Establishment and characterization of a murine model for allergic dermatitis and asthma using Dermatophagoides mite allergens

Abstract

A dust mite allergen Der p 8 was used to establish a mouse model for atopic dermatitis. Der p 8 showed a high frequency but low titer of IgE reactivity to the sera of asthmatic patients. In addition, native Der p 8 showed considerable but variable IgE cross-reactivity with cockroaches but not parasite GST. Allergen patching resulted in localized dermatitis with concomitant neurogenic inflammation. Mice developed airway inflammation and hyperreactivity upon allergen challenge. Splenic T cells produced Th2-polarized cytokines in response to allergen stimulation in-vitro. In contrast, nonallergenic protein induced a Th1-polarized cytokines, indicating that nature of protein determined the quality of the immune responses. Furthermore, allergenic and nonallergenic protein induced different chemokines mRNA expression profiles on dermal fibroblasts in vitro. This work supports the notion that the skin is an important site for the initiation of primary allergen sensitization. Besides, this model may also be useful for study of other stress-associated neuroinflammatory skin disorders such as neurogenic pruritus and psoriasis.