engleski

Analysis of perforin expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes and skin lesions in psoriatic patients

Psoriasis is papulosquamous skin disease immunologicaly characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells, especially T lymphocytes (CD4+ and CD8+). Oscillations in phenotype of T lymphocytes are observed in peripheral blood (PB) and skin lesions, depending on stage of disease. The role of cytolytic pathway mediated by perforin (P) is recognized in psoriasis but still insufficiently defined. AIM: We analyzed a role of perforin mediated cytotoxicity in the patophysiology of disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Psoriatic patients in exacerbation and remission phase of psoriasis vulgaris and healthy persons, age and sex matched to psoriatic group, were investigated. Determination of perforin expression and cell surface antigens in PBL were performed by cell permeabilization and flow cytometric analyses. Perforin expression in the cells infiltrating skin lesions was detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Single staining analyses showed a marked increase of total P+ cells, as well as CD3+, CD8+ and CD56+ lymphocytes in PBL in exacerbation phase. The results obtained by double staining reveal a significantly higher percentage of CD8+P+ cells in the exacerbation phase of disease, as well as CD56+P+ cells resembling NK cells. Average fluorescence intensity (AFI) for P+ cells showed a significantly higher quantity of perforin among CD4+P+ cells in the exacerbation phase compared to remission. Immunohistochemistry showed infiltrations of P+ cells located mostly in papilary dermis in the phase of exacerbation. CONCLUSIONS: These results clearly point on the role of perforin mediated cytolytic pathway in the clinical course of disease.

psoriasis; cell mediated cytotoxicity; NK mediated cytotoxicity; perforin; peripheral blood lymphocytes

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