Lymphocyte subpopulations in the skin of patients with chronic urticaria

In order to characterize the nature of the mononuclear cells in the perivascular infiltrates in the skin of 11 patients with CU, skin biopsy specimens were analyzed in situ by an avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase technique. Serial frozen sections were stained for total T cells, helper-inducer T cells, suppressor-cytotoxic T cells, B cells, monocytes/macrophages, and HLA-DR antigen. The infiltrates were found to consist mainly of T cells, whereas B cells and macrophages were rarely seen. Most of the T cells possessed the T4+ helper phenotypes, whereas smaller numbers of infiltrating cells were defined as suppressor-cytotoxic cells. Most of the helper-inducer T cells coexpressed the Ia (HLA-DR) antigen. Several potential pathogenic mechanisms could be implicated in CU based on these observations.