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The role of mast cells (MCs) in contact hypersensitivity (CHS) remains controversial. This is due in part to the use of the MC-deficient Kit (W/Wv) mouse model, since Kit (W/Wv) mice congenitally lack other types of cells as a result of a point mutation in c-kit. A recent study indicated that the intronic enhancer (IE) for Il4 gene transcription is essential for MCs but not in other cell types. The aim of this study is to re-evaluate the roles of MCs in CHS using mice in which MCs can be conditionally and specifically depleted. Transgenic Mas-TRECK mice in which MCs are depleted conditionally were newly generated using cell-type specific gene regulation by IE. Using this mouse, CHS and FITC-induced cutaneous DC migration were analyzed. Chemotaxis assay and cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ imaging were performed by co-culture of bone marrow-derived MCs (BMMCs) and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs). In Mas-TRECK mice, CHS was attenuated when MCs were depleted during the sensitization phase. In addition, both maturation and migration of skin DCs were abrogated by MC depletion. Consistently, BMMCs enhanced maturation and chemotaxis of BMDC in ICAM-1 and TNF-α dependent manners Furthermore, stimulated BMDCs increased intracellular Ca²⁺ of MC upon direct interaction and up-regulated membrane-bound TNF-α on BMMCs. These results suggest that MCs enhance DC functions by interacting with DCs in the skin to establish the sensitization phase of CHS.
Otsuka et al. (Fri,) studied this question.