The IL-8 release from cultured human keratinocytes, mediated by antibodies to bullous pemphigoid autoantigen 180, is inhibited by dapsone.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a subepidermal blistering disease associated with autoantibodies to the hemidesmosomal 180 kD BP autoantigen (BP180). However, the binding of autoantibodies to BP180 alone is not sufficient for blister formation in this disease and the infiltration of neutrophils into the skin is required. Dapsone and nicotinamide inhibit neutrophil chemotaxis and are used effectively in treating BP. IL-8 is a known chemoattractant for neutrophils and has been implicated in the inflammatory process of both human and experimental murine BP. We have recently shown that antibodies to BP180 mediate a dose and time-dependent release of IL-6 and IL-8 from cultured normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK). In the present study, we addressed the question whether dapsone or nicotinamide influence this cytokine release. We demonstrate that dapsone, but not nicotinamide, in its pharmacological range, inhibits the IL-8, but not the IL-6 release from NHEK, induced by anti-BP180 IgG, in a dose-dependent fashion as detected by ELISA. IL-8 mRNA levels, as determined by RT-PCR, were the same in cells treated with BP IgG alone compared to cells treated with BP IgG plus dapsone. This observation suggests that dapsone inhibits the BP IgG-induced IL-8 release from cultured NHEK by mechanisms at the post-transcriptional level. Our findings contribute to the understanding how dapsone leads to a reduced influx of neutrophils into BP lesions and, finally, to the cessation of blister formation in this disease.