Effects of medium-term PUVA therapy on peripheral T-lymphocyte subsets in psoriatic patients.
Three to four months' PUVA treatment is a widely-adopted procedure to induce psoriasis remission and for the purpose of this study is called "medium-term". The 32 psoriatic patients considered revealed a statistically significant baseline decrease in OKT3+ (p less than 0.001), OKT4+ (p less than 0.001) and OKT8+ (p less than 0.001) as compared with 40 healthy controls, while OKT4/OKT8 was normal. Variance analysis within the psoriatic group failed to reveal further significant variation in the immunological parameters during the 3 months under study. Nevertheless, there was a marked trend towards a reduction in OKT4+ cells and OKT4/OKT8 as compared with baseline values after 3 months. These results suggest that "medium-term" PUVA therapy does not statistically restore the pre-existing baseline changes in T-lymphocyte subsets of the psoriatic patients. The non-statistically significant effects as regards OKT4+ may be due to the small number of patients who reached 3 months' treatment (9 patients) but could be regarded as the first step towards the significant changes described here in long-term PUVA-treated psoriatic patients.
Borroni
G
G
Department of Human and Hereditary Pathology, University of Pavia, Italy.
Brazzelli
V
V
Fietta
A
A
Gatti
M
M
Bellosta
M
M
Vignati
G
G
Zaccone
C
C
Berardesca
E
E
Rabbiosi
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000032:analysis; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011701:PUVA Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013997:Time Factors
D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens