Mast cell number and phenotype in chronic idiopathic urticaria☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Subjects
Eleven patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria were recruited (6 men and 5 women; age range, 21 to 63 years), and nine consented to skin biopsies of both lesional and nonlesional skin. Chronic idiopathic urticaria was defined as the appearance of recurrent, multiple cutaneous wheals for more than 3 months, occurring at intervals of not less than 1 week. All patients were subject to a detailed history, physical examination, and as appropriate, laboratory investigation to exclude underlying
RESULTS
No significant differences were observed among lesional, nonlesional, or control skin at either 0 to 183 μm or 183 to 366 μm from the dermo-epidermal junction (Table I, Fig. 1). With the exception of samples from two patients with urticaria (in which 95% and 96% of mast cells, respectively, were of the MCTC type in nonlesional skin), in other samples (from both patients with urticaria and control subjects) more than 99% of mast cells present were of the MCTC type.
DISCUSSION
Chymase and tryptase are located almost exclusively in mast cells, basophils containing negligible amounts of tryptase (0.04 pg/cell) and undetectable amounts of chymase. The alkaline phosphatase–conjugated G3 antibody stains only mast cells.11 Similarly, eosinophils, neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes have no detectable tryptase.12, 13 Thus immunohistochemical localization of these two enzymes provides a discriminating marker for human mast cells. Although chymase and tryptase are
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Cited by (0)
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From the Department of Allergy & Respiratory Medicine, United Medical & Dental Schools, Guy’s Hospital, London.
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Reprint requests: H. Lee, Department of Allergy & Respiratory Medicine, United Medical & Dental Schools, Guy's Hospital, St. Thomas' St., London SE1 9RT, England.
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