Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Zhou, Yu
• Ni, Houping
• Balint, Klara
• Sanzari, Jenine K
• Dentchev, Tzvete
• Diffenderfer, Eric S
• Wilson, Jolaine M
• Cengel, Keith A
• Weissman, Drew
• Battista, John R.

Titel

Ionizing radiation selectively reduces skin regulatory T cells and alters immune function

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2014-06, Vol.9 (6), p.e100800

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2014

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The skin serves multiple functions that are critical for life. The protection from pathogens is achieved by a complicated interaction between aggressive effectors and controlling functions that limit damage. Inhomogeneous radiation with limited penetration is used in certain types of therapeutics and is experienced with exposure to solar particle events outside the protection of the Earth's magnetic field. This study explores the effect of ionizing radiation on skin immune function. We demonstrate that radiation, both homogeneous and inhomogeneous, induces inflammation with resultant specific loss of regulatory T cells from the skin. This results in a hyper-responsive state with increased delayed type hypersensitivity in vivo and CD4+ T cell proliferation in vitro. The effects of inhomogeneous radiation to the skin of astronauts or as part of a therapeutic approach could result in an unexpected enhancement in skin immune function. The effects of this need to be considered in the design of radiation therapy protocols and in the development of countermeasures for extended space travel.