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As anyone with respiratory allergies might attest, mast cells can be a nuisance. What good are they? Grimbaldeston and colleagues present surprising evidence that mast cells may help to turn off (or at least blunt) the inflammation from elicited allergic contact dermatitis (such as from poison ivy) and the inflammation associated with chronic UVB irradiation.
Knockout mice genetically lacking mast cells and wild-type mice were exposed to eliciting doses of the cutaneous contact sensitizers urushiol and dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB). Early reactions were more severe in the mast cell–deficient mice and sometimes led to epidermal necrosis not seen in the mice with mast cells. The authors relate the ability of mast cells to suppress the allergic r…