Abstract
Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is one of the most common inflammatory skin diseases, which is classified as a delayed-type hypersensitivity immune response. The development of ACD is divided into two phases: sensitization and elicitation. In the sensitization phase, antigen-specific effector T cells are induced in the draining lymph nodes by antigen-captured cutaneous dendritic cells (DCs) that migrate from the skin. In the elicitation phase, the effector T cells are activated in the skin by antigen-captured cutaneous DCs and produce various chemical mediators, which create antigen-specific inflammation. In this review, we discuss the recent advancements in the immunological mechanisms of ACD, focusing on the mechanisms in the elicitation phase. The observations of elicitation of CHS lead to the emerging novel concept of iSALT (inducible skin-associated lymphoid tissue).