A Global Gene Expression Analysis of the Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Reveals the Gene Expression Signature in Psoriasis

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects approximately 1~3% of the general population. OBJECTIVE: We performed cDNA microarray analysis with using the dendrimer labelling method to investigate the gene expression profile in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of psoriatic patients. METHODS: The peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 5 patients with psoriasis and 8 control subjects were used in the gene expression analyses of psoriasis. RESULTS: We identified 212 differentially expressed genes that showed at least a two-fold induction and/or reduction in psoriatic patients. Among those, 63 genes, including CD44, CD56 and IL7R, were induced, while 139 genes, including the sphingosine kinase 1 and p16-INK genes, were reduced in the psoriatic patients. CONCLUSION: We can speculate that these genes may have a role for the pathogenesis of psoriasis via their affecting different cellular functions. Our results suggest a possible mechanism by which activated immune cells migrate from the blood to the skin in psoriatic patients, and we provide novel putative targets for developing drugs to treat psoriasis