title: Endothelin-1 levels are increased in sera and lesional skin extracts of psoriatic patients and correlate with disease severity.
abstract: Endothelins (ETs), in addition to their systematical activities, exert important functions at the skin level, such as increase of keratinocyte proliferation, neo-angiogenesis and leukocyte chemotaxis, which are among the main characteristics of psoriasis. To assess a possible ET-1 involvement in plaque-type psoriasis, ET-1 determinations were carried out in 15 sera and 8 lesional and non-lesional biopsy skin extracts from psoriatic patients and in 15 sera and 5 biopsy skin extracts from healthy volunteers, sex- and age-matched, using commercially available ELISA kits. A statistical analysis of the results showed that ET-1 levels were increased in sera of psoriatic patients, as compared to normal subjects (p = 0.04). In addition, there was a significant correlation between both serum (r = 0.60, p = 0.02) and lesional skin (r = 0.80, p = 0.03) ET-1 values versus the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores. Significant increases of the lesional versus the non-lesional (p = 0.01) and versus the normal (p = 0.04) ET-1 skin extract values were observed, together with a significant correlation between lesional and non-lesional ET-1 skin levels (r = 0.79, p = 0.03). These findings were also confirmed at the mRNA level, using RT-PCR analysis, where increased ET-1 mRNA levels, densitometrically measured, were found in the lesional samples versus non-lesional and normal skin. Since interleukin-8 is involved in psoriasis and shares some biological properties with ET-1, we further evaluated the levels of this cytokine in skin extracts. The behaviour of interleukin-8 paralleled that of ET-1, and a significant correlation between these two molecules was observed in the lesional skin (r = 0.76, p = 0.05). Taken together, these data stress that, as previously described for interleukin-8, ET-1 may be involved in inflammatory processes associated with psoriasis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical Pathology, Institute of S. Gallicano IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bonifati
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mussi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carducci
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pittarello
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: D'Auria
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venuti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bagnato
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Salani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ameglio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017931:DNA Primers; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D019332:Endothelin-1; D016209:Interleukin-8