ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the status of expression and gene polymorphism of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated molecule4(CTLA4)on peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)from patients with psoriasis.Methods Expression of CTLA4mRNA/antigen and polymorphism of CTLA4gene were analyzed in33and133patients with psoriasis confirmed clinically and/or pathologically,respectively.Expression of CT-LA4mRNA and antigen was detected by in situ hybridization and immmunohistochemistry.CTLA4exon1and3'untranslated region were amplified by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and the amplified products were identified by single-stand conformation polymorphism(SSCP),restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP)or sequencing.Results Expression of both mRNA and antigen of CTLA4was significantly weaker on PBMCs induced by staphytococcal enterotoxin B(SEB)in patients with psoriasis than that in normal con-trols,without a regular pattern.The guanine49on exon1in association with fragment106bp of3'untranslat-ed region was shown to be linked to the susceptibility of psoriasis.Conclusion Defective translation and ex-pression of CTLA4take place in patients with psoriasis,which is possibly related to the polymorphism of CT-LA4.Our results suggest that CTLA4may be one of the candidate genes which cause autoimmunity in psoria-sis.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate Th1/Th2 pattern of response in psoriasis and to study the effects of CTLA4Ig on Th1/Th2 shift in psoriasis. Methods The levels of IL-2, IFN-?and IL-4 were assessed by ELISA in the supernatant of cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 33 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 20 healthy blood donors. Cytokine synthesis was induced by activation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) with or without CTLA4Ig. Results Levels of IL-2, IFN-?and IL-4 were markedly increased by PBMCs from psoriatic patients incubated with SEB (P