Isolation of T cells from the skin

Abstract

T cells can be found in skin under steady-state conditions as well as in inflammatory processes. T cells in skin play an important role in immune homeostasis as well as control of infectious, inflammatory diseases or tumors. In addition, several important and frequent skin diseases such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, autoimmune disease, and contact allergy are initiated by T cells. In skin diseases, the majority of anti-genspecific T cells can be found in the tissue, not the peripheral blood. Here, we present a protocol suitable for isolation of skin-resident (inflammatory) T cells that can be used for an in-depth characterization of their frequency, function, and role for the respective inflammatory condition.