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Induction of Keratinocyte Proliferation and Lymphocytic Infiltration by In Vivo Introduction of the IL-6 Gene into Keratinocytes and Possibility of Keratinocyte Gene Therapy for Inflammatory Skin Diseases Using IL-6 Mutant Genes¹

Department of Dermatology, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan

To understand biological function of IL-6 in the skin in vivo, we constructed a vector that strongly expressed human IL-6 in keratinocytes and introduced it into rat keratinocytes in vivo by the naked DNA method. The overexpression of IL-6 induced macroscopic erythema and histologically evident keratinocyte proliferation and lymphocytic infiltration in the treated area of rat skin. Since previous studies using IL-6 transgenic mice have not shown skin inflammation of these mice, our result provides the first evidence that IL-6 is related to the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases. ELISA suggested that a certain degree of transgenic IL-6 expression in keratinocytes was required for inducing skin inflammation. Cytokine profile in rat keratinocytes after the gene introduction was examined by reverse transcriptase-PCR assay and revealed that gene expression of rat IL-1 and TNF- showed no marked change until 24 h, whereas that of rat IL-6 and TGF- increased with time. We then introduced and expressed the IL-6 mutant genes, which were designed to behave as IL-6R antagonists, and found that their ability to induce erythema was lower than that of the wild-type gene. Furthermore, preintroduction of some mutant genes delayed the erythema induced by postintroduction of the wild-type IL-6 gene, suggesting that the mutant forms of IL-6 prevent wild-type IL-6 from binding to IL-6R. This result indicates that keratinocyte gene therapy may be possible for inflammatory skin diseases using IL-6 mutant genes.

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