Dark pigmentation and related low FMOD expression increase IL-3 and facilitateplasmacytoid dendritic cell maturation

Marianna Halasi; Aviv Talmon; Yuval Tal; Gil Yosipovitch; Irit Adini

doi:10.1016/j.clim.2023.109638

Dark pigmentation and related low FMOD expression increase IL-3 and facilitateplasmacytoid dendritic cell maturation

Clin Immunol. 2023 Jun:251:109638. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2023.109638. Epub 2023 May 4.

Authors

Marianna Halasi¹, Aviv Talmon², Yuval Tal², Gil Yosipovitch³, Irit Adini⁴

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Medical School, Department of Surgery, Center for Engineering in Medicine & Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States of America.
² Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit, Department of Medicine, Hadassah Medical Organization, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
³ Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery and Miami Itch Ctr, University of Miami, FL, USA.
⁴ Harvard Medical School, Department of Surgery, Center for Engineering in Medicine & Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States of America. Electronic address: iadini@mgh.harvard.edu.

PMID: 37149118
DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2023.109638

Abstract

According to epidemiological research, skin autoimmune diseases are more prevalent among black Americans. We postulated that pigment-producing melanocytes may contribute to local immune regulation in the microenvironment. We examined murine epidermal melanocytes in vitro to determine the role of pigment production in immune responses mediated by dendritic cell (DC) activation. Our study revealed that darkly pigmented melanocytes produce more IL-3 and the pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and TNF-α, and consequently induce plasmacytoid DC (pDC) maturation. Additionally, we demonstrate that low pigment-associated fibromodulin (FMOD) interferes with cytokine secretion and subsequent pDC maturation.

Keywords: Fibromodulin; Melanocytes; Pigment; Plasmacytoid dendritic cells.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cytokines* / metabolism
Dendritic Cells
Fibromodulin / metabolism
Humans
Interleukin-3* / metabolism
Interleukin-3* / pharmacology
Mice
Pigmentation

Substances

Interleukin-3
Fibromodulin
Cytokines
FMOD protein, human
Fmod protein, mouse

Grants and funding

R01 EY024046/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States