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* Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany; and
Division of Dermatology, University of California, and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161
Cathelicidin is strongly expressed in lesional skin in psoriasis and may play an important role as both an antimicrobial peptide and as an autoinflammatory mediator in this chronic skin disease. The mechanism of increased cathelicidin in psoriatic keratinocytes is not known, but recent observations have found that psoriasis has abundant Th17 cells that produce IL-17A and IL-22. We found that human keratinocytes stimulated with supernatants from T cells isolated from lesional psoriatic skin increased expression of cathelicidin when stimulated in the presence of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D3). This increase was signaled through the IL-17RA. In vitro, IL-17A, but not IL-22, enhanced cathelicidin mRNA and peptide expression in keratinocytes dependent on the presence of 1,25D3. At the same time, coincubation with 1,25D3 blocked induction of human β-defensin 2 (HBD2), IL-6, and IL-8, which are other target genes of IL-17A. Act1, an adaptor associated with IL-17RA and essential for IL-17A signaling, mediated cathelicidin induction, as its suppression by small interfering RNA inhibited HBD2 and cathelicidin. Both, 1,25D3 and IL-17A signaled cathelicidin induction through MEK-ERK. These results suggest that increased IL-17A in psoriatic skin increases cathelicidin through a vitamin D3-, Act1-, and MEK-ERK-dependent mechanism. Therapy targeting this cathelicidin-regulating system might be beneficial in patients suffering from psoriasis.
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1 This work was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Emmy Noether Programm; Scha 979/3-1) and the Friedrich Baur Stiftung.
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Jürgen Schauber, Klinik und Poliklinik für Dermatologie und Allergologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Frauenlobstrasse 9-11, 80337 München, Germany. E-mail address: juergen.schauber{at}med.uni-muenchen.de
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: pDC, plasmacytoid dendritic cell; CAMP, cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide; HBD2, human β-defensin 2; 1,25D3, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3; NHEK, normal human epidermal keratinocyte; VDR, vitamin D receptor; siRNA, small interfering RNA; ActD, actinomycin D.
4 The online version of this article contains supplemental material.
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