Skin CD4+ T cells produce interferon-γ in vitro in response to streptococcal antigens in chronic plaque psoriasis

Recently, we have demonstrated that group A streptococcal antigen reactive T cells are present in the skin lesions of chronic plaque psoriasis. To determine the cytokine profile (interferon-gamma, interleukin-4 and interleukin-10) of these T cells in response to streptococcal antigens, T cell lines were cultured from untreated lesional skin of 13 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and 12 patients with other inflammatory skin diseases. T cell lines were incubated with or without a sonicated heat-killed mixture of group A streptococcal isolates for 18 h in the presence of a transport inhibitor, stained for surface CD4 or CD8 and intracellular cytokine expression, and analyzed by flow cytometry. Psoriatic T cell lines were grown from 10 of 13 patients and were predominately CD4(+) (64%-85%) with 10%-32% CD8(+) T cells. Variable numbers of CD4(+) T cells produced interferon-gamma (0.8%-35%, median 13.9) in eight of 10 T cell lines (p < 0.02). In contrast, CD4(+) T cells in five of 12 T cell lines obtained from disease controls did not produce or produced minimal interferon-gamma in response to group A streptococcal isolates; this was significantly different from the psoriatic T cell lines (p < 0.05). Small numbers of interleukin-10 positive (0.8%-1.3%) and interleukin-4 positive (2.1%-2.5%) CD4(+) T cells induced by group A streptococcal isolates were also present in two out of five and three out of five psoriatic T cell lines, respectively. This was significantly less in each case than the numbers of CD4(+)/interferon-gamma(+) T cells (p < 0.05). Cytokine-positive CD8(+) T cells were rarely observed. These findings demonstrate that a subpopulation of CD4(+) T cells in chronic plaque psoriasis skin lesions produces interferon-gamma in response to streptococcal antigens and may be relevant to the pathogenesis of psoriasis.