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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Dogs with atopic skin have trouble releasing defense peptides

By Santoro, Domenico et al.·Published in Comparative immunology, microbiology and infectious diseases·2019·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: A defective release of host defense peptides is present in canine atopic skin.

Species:
dog

Plain-English summary

A study found that dogs with atopic dermatitis (a skin allergy condition) have issues with their skin's natural defense proteins. These proteins, called host defense peptides, are supposed to help protect the skin from infections. In dogs with this condition, there was an increase in these proteins inside the skin cells, but they weren't being released properly to do their job. This could explain why dogs with atopic dermatitis often have skin infections and irritation. Understanding this could help in developing better treatments for skin allergies in dogs.

People also search for: dog skin allergies treatment · why is my dog itching · atopic dermatitis in dogs · host defense peptides in dogs

Abstract

The use of dogs as animal model for human atopic dermatitis (AD) is well known. Striking similarities in the pathogenesis of AD have been demonstrated. Similar alteration of host defense peptides (HDP) have been identified in both species. However, the ultrastructural/molecular alterations associated with HDPs secretion in AD have not been elucidated. We were able to use a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the secretion of HDP in canine skin. The contemporary use of indirect immunofluorescence, ELISA and scanning immune-electron microscopy gave fundamental insights in the pathomechanism of HDP alteration in AD. An increased intracellular expression and a reduced secretion of HDPs is present in atopic skin. An increased presence of HDPs was seen on the surface of atopic skin. These results suggested a defective secretion and an increased adhesion of HDPs to atopic corneocytes might be the reason of the reduced killing activity of HDPs in AD.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31300128/