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Nature Medicine 12, 1358 - 1359 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nm1206-1358

Skin controls immune regulators

Tomoyuki Yamaguchi1 & Shimon Sakaguchi1,2

  1. Department of Experimental Pathology, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. e-mail: tyamaguc@frontier.kyoto-u.ac.jp
  2. Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan.


An explanation has come to light for the long-observed phenomenon that ultraviolet light suppresses the immune response in the skin. Light and other stimuli prompt the proliferation of regulatory T cells through the upregulation of receptor activator of NF-kappaB ligand (RANKL) on skin cells (pages 13721379).


The skin is constantly exposed to environmental stimuli that may disturb immunological homeostasis. Ultraviolet exposure to the skin, for example, is immunosuppressive as it can treat psoriasis, a possible autoimmune disease in the skin.

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