The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 1993-1994

Cytokine Gene Expression and Allergic Contact Dermatitis

Craig A. Elmets, MD
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Three haptens which cause allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) in humans will be applied to organ cultured human skin and freshly prepared Langerhans cells in order to examine the role that cytokines play in the expression of ACD. Increases in selected cytokines will be examined in cultures exposed to urushiol (poison ivy), nickel, and dinitrochlorobenzene, as well as sodium lauryl sulfate irritant. When an optimal in vitro assay has been established, its validity as a predictor of contact allergy in humans will be tested by comparing it to the clinical reaction in vivo.