Prevalence of psoriatic arthritis in Chinese population with psoriasis: A multicenter study conducted by experienced rheumatologists / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Reports on the prevalence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) among Chinese patients with psoriasis are very limited. This study, conducted by rheumatologists, estimated the prevalence of PsA in a large number of Chinese patients with psoriasis.@*METHODS@#Consecutive patients with a confirmed diagnosis of psoriasis attending nine dermatology clinics in five hospitals were recruited. All psoriasis patients were asked to complete a questionnaire comprising 16 questions to identify possible cases of PsA. All patients with one or more positive answers to the questionnaire were evaluated by two experienced rheumatologists.@*RESULTS@#A total of 2434 psoriasis patients, including 1561 males and 873 females, were enrolled. Both the questionnaire and rheumatologists' examinations were completed in the dermatology clinics. The results identified 252 patients with PsA, comprising 168 males and 84 females. The overall prevalence of PsA among psoriasis patients was 10.4% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 9.1%-11.7%). By sex, the prevalence was 10.8% (95% CI, 9.2%-12.5%) for males and 9.6% (95% CI, 7.7%-11.9%) for females and there was no significant sex difference in the prevalence of PsA (P = 0.38). Of the 252 PsA patients, 125 (49.6%, 95% CI, 41.3%-59.1%) were newly diagnosed by rheumatologists. Consequently, the prevalence of undiagnosed PsA among psoriasis patients was 5.2% (95% CI, 4.4%-6.2%).@*CONCLUSION@#The prevalence of PsA in the Chinese population with psoriasis is about 10.4%, which is almost double that of previous reports in the Chinese population, but lower than that in Caucasians.

Construction and Identification of CD147 siRNA Expression Vector / 中华皮肤科杂志

Objective To construct CD147 siRNA expression vector in o rder to analyze the role of CD147 in the invasion and metastasis of tumors deriv ed from skin.Methods According to CD147 cDNA sequence in the Genebank,a pair of 64-nt oligonucleotides,each containing the sites of restriction endonucleas e at both ends,were designed and synthesized.Oligonucleotides were annealed an d ligated with linearized pSUPER by T4DNA ligase.The recombinants (named pSUPER /CD147 siRNA ) were finally sequenced and identified by PCR and restriction end onuclease digestion.Results CD147 siRNA expression vector was successfully co nstructed and identified by double endonuclease digestion.Sequence analysis of inserted fragment revealed the same sequence as synthesized siRNA oligonucleotid es.Conclusions CD147 siRNA expression vector has been successfully constructed,which paves the way for studying the role of CD147 in the invasion and metasta sis of tumor cells derived from skin as well as in tumor therapy.