Prevention of cutaneous penetration and CD1c+ uptake of pollen allergens by a barrier-enhancing formulation

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that pollen proteins can penetrate the impaired skin barrier of atopic patients and exacerbate their disease. In the presented study the effect of a topically applied barrier-enhancing formulation was investigated for its preventive effect on the uptake of pollen allergens into CD1c+ epidermal cells. The pollen proteins were fluorescence labelled and applied on barrier-disrupted excised human skin. CD1c+ cells were selected after magnetic cell sorting and analysed using laser scanning microscopy. In untreated disrupted skin, 81% of the CD1c+ cells contained the fluorescence-labelled pollen allergens. In formulation-pretreated skin only 12% of the CD1c+ cells showed an uptake of pollen allergens. These results encourage the treatment of atopic patients with barrier-enhancing formulations to reduce the impact of pollen on air-exposed skin areas and hence the exacerbation of cutaneous symptoms.