RESUMO
Background and Objective: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by hyper-proliferation, abnormal differentiation, and inflammatory infiltration in epidermis and dermis. We planned this study to analyze probable associations between Osteopontin (OPN), Ki-67, CD34, and histopathological features in psoriasis. Materials and Methods: We studied OPN expression and its correlation with Ki-67 and CD34 expression in lesional, non-lesional skin, and normal skin. Immunoreactivity for OPN and Ki-67 was based on the level of epidermal staining. CD34 expression was scored as mild, moderate, and strong, according to the number of stained dermal capillaries. Results: Our results showed statistically significant differences in the expression of OPN, Ki-67, and CD34 between lesional and non-lesional skin as well as between non-lesional skin and control group (P≤0.001). In addition, there was a significant difference in the expression of OPN, Ki-67, and CD34 between control and lesional group (P=0.02, P=0.02, and P=0.04, respectively). Conclusions: OPN expression seems to be related to Ki-67 (proliferation index) and CD34 expression (angiogenesis marker) confirming its role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Then "anti- OPN and anti-angiogenesis" may eventually become a useful therapeutic approach in psoriasis.