1. ¹Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U503, IFR128, BioSciences Lyon-Gerland, Lyon, France
2. ²Développement Industrialisation et Promotion de Technologies Avancées (DIPTA) SAS, 505 rue Pierre Berthier, Aix-en-Provence, France
3. ³Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, CH Lyon-Sud, Pierre-Benite, France
4. ⁴UFR Lyon-Sud, UCB Lyon1, Oullins, France

Correspondence: Dr Jean-Francois Nicolas, UCBL-INSERM U503, IFR128, Lyon Cx 07 69375, France. E-mail: nicolas@cervi-lyon.inserm.fr

Received 9 October 2006; Revised 13 November 2006; Accepted 29 November 2006; Published online 1 February 2007.

Abstract

Irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) is a frequent inflammatory skin disease induced by skin contact with low molecular weight chemicals such as haptens endowed with proinflammatory properties. Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a frequent complication of ICD and is mediated by hapten-specific T cells primed in lymph nodes by skin emigrating dendritic cells. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between ICD and ACD to 2,4-dinitrofluorobenezene (DNFB) in C57BL/6 and BALB/C mice, which develop a severe and a moderate skin inflammation, respectively. Upon a single skin painting with DNFB, C57BL/6 developed within hours a more severe dose-dependent ICD response as compared to BALB/C mice, which was associated with enhanced upregulation of IL-1, IL-6, and IL-10. Skin exposure to a low dose of DNFB resulted, in both strains, in a low ICD that resolved in a few hours. Alternatively, skin painting with either an intermediate or a high DNFB concentration induced an ICD that subsequently gave rise to an ACD reaction whose intensity was proportional to the magnitude of the ICD response and was more severe in C57BL/6 mice than in BALB/C mice. In conclusion, the hapten-induced skin contact irritation conditions the development and the severity of ACD.