Excessive inflammatory environment in a course of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD) is associated with T-cell trafficking into inflamed tissues. This study focused on the identification of IL-17-producing cells in the tissue biopsies of cGvHD patients. Forty-one biopsy specimens of cGvHD lesions of the skin (n = 27), gastrointestinal tract (n = 9) and oral mucosa (n = 5), examined in 24 patients, were morphologically defined according to the NIH criteria and analyzed for the presence of cellular infiltrations including: IL-17+, FOXP3+ and CCR6+ cells. IL-17+ cells were identified in 26/27 skin and in all gut and oral mucosa biopsies, being more frequent in mucosa lesions than in the skin (11/14 vs 14/26, respectively; NS: not significant). Double staining documented that CD138+/IL-17+ cells were commonly seen in the gut than in the skin (5/8 vs 3/11, respectively; NS). In the skin, cells expressing trafficking receptor CCR6+ were more frequent than IL-17+ cells compared to the mucosa (23/26 vs 2/13, respectively; p < 0.0001). CCR6 was present on a majority of IL-17+ cells in all examined skin biopsies but only in 6 out of 11 digestive tract biopsies (p = 0.0112). FOXP3+ cells were identified only in five patients (with mild lesions) at least in one biopsy. In this study group, results documented that local expansion of IL-17-producing cells in the digestive tract correlate with moderate and severe clinical symptoms of cGvHD, in contrast to the skin, where IL-17+ cells are rather scarcely present (p = 0.0301) and the course of cGvHD is slowly progressing with final organ deterioration.

中文翻译：

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IL-17 +细胞在慢性皮肤和粘膜移植物抗宿主病中的多种活性。

在慢性移植物抗宿主病（cGvHD）病程中，炎性环境过多与T细胞向发炎组织的运输有关。这项研究的重点是在cGvHD患者的组织活检中鉴定产生IL-17的细胞。根据NIH标准对24例患者的皮肤cGvHD病变（n = 27），胃肠道（n = 9）和口腔粘膜（n = 5）的活检标本进行了形态学定义并进行了分析存在细胞浸润，包括：IL-17 +，FOXP3 +和CCR6 +细胞。在26/27皮肤以及所有肠粘膜和口腔粘膜活检组织中均鉴定出IL-17 +细胞，粘膜病变的发生率高于皮肤（分别为11/14和14/26； NS：不显着）。双重染色表明，CD138 + / IL-17 +细胞在肠道中比在皮肤中更常见（分别为5/8和3/11； NS）。在皮肤中，与粘膜相比，表达运输受体CCR6 +的细胞比IL-17 +细胞更频繁（分别为23/26和2/13； p <0.0001）。在所有检查过的皮肤活检中，CCL6均存在于大多数IL-17 +细胞中，但在11个消化道活检中只有6个存在（p = 0.0112）。至少在一次活检中，仅在5例（轻度病变）患者中发现了FOXP3 +细胞。在该研究组中，结果证明，与皮肤中IL-17 +细胞很少存在的皮肤相反，在消化道中产生IL-17的细胞的局部扩张与cGvHD的中度和重度临床症状相关（p = 0。