ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1628913
This article is part of the Research TopicImmune regulatory networks in the skin during normal and aberrant immunological responses: mechanisms, modulation, and therapeutic targetsView all articles
PD-L1⁺ Neutrophils neutrophils Mediate mediate Immune immune Regulation regulation of CD8⁺ T Cells cells in Halo halo Nevinevi
Provisionally accepted
- 1The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
- 2Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, China
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Halo nevi are clinically common and are characterized by a circle of leukoderma around the central melanocytic nevus. Studies have shown that the pathogenesis of halo nevi is similar to that of vitiligo and is associated with the role of CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in melanocyte destruction. Furthermore, hHistopathological findings have revealed neutrophil infiltration in halo nevi;, however,but the specific immune mechanisms involving neutrophils have not been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, weThis study investigated the role of neutrophils in halo nevi usingthrough histopathological and immunological analyses. To this end, weWe examined the infiltration patterns of immune cells in halo nevi, with a particular focus on IFN-γ-induced PD-L1 expression in neutrophils and its potential immunoregulatory effects. The results demonstrated that IFN-γ expression in the lesional skin of halo nevi contributed to the induction of PD-L1 expression in neutrophils. PD-L1⁺ neutrophils promoted apoptosis and suppressed the function of CD8⁺ T lymphocytes. Notably, some halo nevi showed a tendencytend to spontaneous regression, butyet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, and this regulatory mechanism influences the local immune response and may facilitate the repigmentation of the surrounding leukoderma in halo nevi. This study is the first to explore the involvement mechanism of neutrophils in halo nevi and to reveal the potential immunoregulatory role of PD-L1 in this process. The elucidation of this mechanism not only provides a more comprehensive understanding of autoimmune skin diseases butand may also offer new strategies for targeted therapy in other related disorders, such as vitiligo.
Keywords: Immunomodulatory therapy, halo nevi, Neutrophils, PD-L1, Melanocytes
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Xu, Cui, Wang, Li and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Min Li, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
Lu Liu, Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, China
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