ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To reveal the possible role of combined therapy with Chinese drug and narrow broad ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) on keratinocytes apoptosis in skin lesion of psoriasis vulgaris (PV).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Skin samples were taken from 20 healthy subjects and 30 PV patients before and after they received the combined therapy for 8 weeks. SP immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expressions of Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and survivin in the samples.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>As compared with those in the normal skin, expression of Bcl-2 in PV skin was significantly lower (7.50 +/- 2.01 vs. 12.65 +/- 2.83), while expression of Caspase-3 (21.73 +/- 3.70 vs. 8.55 +/- 2.16), and survivin (23.90 +/- 2.82 vs. 7.06 +/- 1.96) were higher (all P < 0.01). After treatment, in skin of PV, Bcl-2 expression increased to 13.63 +/- 2.14, Caspase-3 and survivin decreased to 11.70 +/- 2.44 and 12.46 +/- 1.80, respectively (all P < 0.01), showing a normalizing trend. Moreover, patients' psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score decreased from 14.24 +/- 3.42 before treatment to 3.52 +/- 1.07 after treatment (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The curing effect of the combined therapy with Chinese drug and NB-UVB in treating PV is possibly realized by way of regulating Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and survivin expressions to adjust keratinocyte apoptosis.</p>