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Elevated interleukin‐18 protein expression in early active and progressive plaque‐type psoriatic lesions Volume 15, numéro 3, September 2004

Auteurs
Departments of Immunology and Dermatology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Psoriasis is a T cell‐mediated inflammatory skin disease characterized by an elevated IFN‐γ and IL‐12p70 expression in skin lesions. Interleukin‐18 (IL‐18) synergizes with IL‐12 to induce IFN‐γ production and a strong T‐helper‐1‐mediated immune response, or to induce Th2 polarization depending on the immunological context. We have previously shown that keratinocytes in normal skin produce and store large amounts of pro‐IL‐18. In this study, we hypothesized that the expression of IL‐18 in psoriatic lesional skin might be altered compared to normal skin. Therefore, IL‐18 expression was assessed in psoriatic, stable, plaque‐type lesions and early active and progressive lesions. IL‐18 mRNA and protein concentrations were constitutively high, and did not differ between normal and stable, plaque‐type epidermis. In active and progressive lesions an elevated expression of total IL‐18 protein relative to normal and stable, plaque‐type epidermis was detected using ELISA, while on Western blot, the differences in pro‐ or mature IL‐18 were less clear. Our results indicate that the role of IL‐18 in the pathogenesis of early phases of psoriasis may be more prominent than in established psoriatic lesions.