Immune and inflammatory responses of the skin
The skin's innate barrier and resident immune cells, the Th1, Th2 and Th17 axes behind vitiligo, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis and the biologics that target each, hypersensitivity types in skin disease, desmoglein compensation in pemphigus, immunofluorescence patterns, and HLA-linked drug reactions.
Tier 2Medical sciences concept
Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Skin is a physical, chemical and immune barrier. Keratinocytes are immune cells too: they carry Toll-like receptors, release antimicrobial peptides and cytokines, and present danger signals.
- Resident immune cells include Langerhans cells in the epidermis, dermal dendritic cells, tissue-resident memory T cells, mast cells and innate lymphoid cells. Most skin T cells live in the skin and don't recirculate.
- Most inflammatory skin disease maps to one T-cell axis: Th1 (vitiligo, allergic contact dermatitis, lichen planus), Th2 (atopic dermatitis), Th17 (psoriasis). Modern biologics target the cytokines of that axis.
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Sources
- Rook's Textbook of Dermatology (10th ed.)Wiley-Blackwell (Griffiths, Barker, Bleiker, Hussain, Simpson, eds), 2024
- Dermatology (5th ed.)Elsevier (Bolognia, Schaffer, Cerroni, eds), 2024
- Janeway's Immunobiology (10th ed.)W. W. Norton (Murphy, Weaver and Berg), 2022
- Explanations for the clinical and microscopic localization of lesions in pemphigus foliaceus and vulgarisMahoney MG et al., J Clin Invest 1999;103:461-8, 1999
- Therapeutic Guidelines: DermatologyAU/NZTherapeutic Guidelines Limited, 2026
- Immune self-reactivity triggered by drug-modified HLA-peptide repertoireIlling PT et al., Nature 2012;486:554-8, 2012
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
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