Fig. 6: Neutrophil migration and cytokine expression in human genital HSV ulcers.

a Neutrophil infiltration from dermis into HSV-infected epidermis in a human skin biopsy representative of an ulcerative herpes lesion. CD15⁺ neutrophils (green), HSV (red). Scale bar: 100 µm. b Transcriptional levels of IL8, IL6, RANTES, and TNFA in human skin biopsies obtained from sites of HSV ulcerative lesion (n = 4) or from uninvolved contralateral controls (CTL, n = 3). Microarray data re-analyzed from a published data source⁴⁵. *p = 0.0185 ***p < 0.0001 generated with paired two-tailed t-test. c Detection of epidermal IL8 RNA transcripts using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in human skin biopsies. HSV lesion (upper) and matched normal control at contralateral site (bottom). Enlarged image of dashed box in HSV lesion showing IL8 expression in K14⁺ basal keratinocytes (red, indicated by yellow arrows) and in K10⁺ differentiated keratinocytes (green, indicated by white arrows) (right). Scale bar: 100 µm. d RANTES RNA transcripts expression by FISH in control (left) and lesion (center and right) biopsies. Enlarged image of dashed box showing combined RANTES expression in K14⁺ keratinocytes and CD3⁺ T cells ⁽top) and of only RANTES expression (bottom). K14 (red), CD3 (green), RANTES (white), DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 100 µm. e TNFA RNA transcripts expression by FISH in control (left) and lesion (right) biopsies. Enlarged image of dashed box (right). CD3 (green), TNFA (red), DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 100 µm. Data are provided in a Source data file.