Skin Oils Act as Natural, Tissue-Specific Autoantigens

Specifically, the authors propose that either: 1) the apolar squalene antigens stabilizes the CD1a groove or 2) they displace inhibitory ligands. The two theories are not mutually exclusive. Either way, the results suggest that oils in skin creams may be able to modify intradermal immune responses.

“The lipid antigens identified here are in sebum. We hypothesize that when oils that are normally on the skin surface are pushed down into deep layers by inflammation or abrasion of the skin, this is molecular signal that identifies skin breach,” wrote Dr. Moody.

Lara C. Pullen, PhD, is a medical writer based in the Chicago area.

Reference

de Jong A, Cheng TY, Huang S, et al: CD1a-autoreactive T cells recognize natural skin oils that function as headless antigens. Nat Immunol. 2014 Feb;15(2):177–185. Epub 2013 Dec 22.

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