Gene expression analysis of skin from Merkel cell sufficient and deficient B6 mouse models of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus

Many patients experience photosensitivity and itch. Recent work has demonstrated that Merkel cells in the skin are important for itch responses in alloknesis and sunburn-induced itch.

We asked whether Merkel cells were important for skin inflammation in the context of CLE given the overlap of symptoms. To address this, we bred Merkel cell deficient mice to our adoptive T cell transfer CLE mouse model. Mice lacking half of their Merkel cells had increased skin disease scores compared to littermates and CLE controls regardless of TLR9 status.