Transformed and Nontransformed Human T Lymphocytes Migrate to Skin in a Chimeric Human Skin/SCID Mouse Model

• Published in: Journal of investigative dermatology Vol. 109; no. 6; pp. 744 - 750
• Main Authors: Rosenblatt-Velin, Nathalie, Arrighi, Jean-François, Dietrich, Pierre-Yves, Schnuriger, Valérie, Masouyé, Isabele, Hauser, Conrad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Danvers, MA Elsevier Inc 01.12.1997; Nature Publishing
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Movement; Chimera; cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen; Dermatology; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Lymphocyte Activation; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, SCID; Nickel - pharmacology; Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta - genetics; RNA, Messenger - analysis; Skin - immunology; Skin Transplantation; T cell receptor rearrangement; T-Lymphocytes - physiology; tumor necrosis factor-α; cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen; skin transplantation; tumor necrosis factor-α; T cell receptor rearrangement; Human; Migration; Rodentia; Exploration; Heterograft; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Mouse; Animal; T-Lymphocyte; Graft; Models; Skin
• ISSN: 0022-202X; 1523-1747
• DOI: 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12340755

To study human T cell migration to human skin in vivo, we grafted severe combined immunodeficient mice with 500-μm thick human skin. Two weeks after grafting, epidermal and dermal structures in the grafts were of human origin. When we intraperitoneally injected grafted mice with clones of the human HUT-78T cell line derived from a patient with cutaneous T cell lymphoma and Sézary syndrome, we detected in the grafts the rare Vβ23-Jβ1.2T cell receptor transcripts characteristic for the HUT-78 clones. These signals were found 2–6 d after cell injection in about 40% of the grafted and HUT-78 cell injected mice but not in grafts from mice that received no exogenous T cells. In contrast to HUT-78 cells, which only accumulate in low number, grafts topically challenged with nickel sufate in vaseline from mice that were injected with autologous nickel-reactive T cell lines led to massive accumulation of T cells within 3 d. Only scattered T cells accumulated in the skin when grafted mice received vaseline plus T cells, nickel sulfate alone, T cells alone, or nickel sulfate plus an allogeneic nickel-nonreactive T cell clone. When the T cell lines were labeled with the fluorochrome PKH-26 before cell injection, spots of fluorescent label in the size and shape of cells were found in the grafts challenged with nickel. Together, these results clearly demonstrate that human T cells can migrate to human skin in this chimeric human/mouse model.