Tenascin-C is upregulated in the skin lesions of patients with atopic dermatitis

Background: Tenascin-C is a large, hexameric extracellular matrix glycoprotein that is expressed during embryogenesis, carcinogenesis and wound heating. In normal adult human skin the expression level of tenascin-C is tow, but levels are elevated in skin tumors and rise significantly in the dermal compartment during wound heating. Although the expression of tenascin-C could be upregulated by inflammatory cytokines, the role of tenascin-C in atopic dermatitis (AD) is still unclear. Objective: To identify genes that plays a rote in AD. Methods: We screened for differentialty expressed genes in lesional. and non-lesional skin of AD patients using DNA microarray. Then we monitored with quantitative PCR the expression of the novel disease related genes in human keratinocytes or pinnae from NC/Nga mice. Results: We found that tenascin-C gene expression was expressed at higher levels in lesional skin compared to non-lesional skin of the patients, whereas it was not upregulated in the skin of psoriatic patients or healthy controls. In human cultured keratinocytes, tenascin-C was markedly upregulated by IL-4 and IL-13, and moderatety upregulated by IFN-gamma. Tenascin-C expression was also upregulated in the AD-like skin lesions induced in NC/Nga mice ears by intradermal injection of mite antigen, and this upregulation was inhibited by prednisolone. Conclusion: These results suggest that upregulation of the tenascin-C expression is specific to AD lesions, and that tenascin-C may therefore play a critical rote in