Tenascin-C is not a useful marker for disease activity in psoriasis.
Tenascin-C is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein that is markedly upregulated in the dermis of psoriatic skin. In this study, we have addressed the question whether the presence of tenascin-C in the lesion or in serum is a marker for disease activity. Immunohistochemical staining of tenascin-C before and after treatment with different topical and systemic medication showed that tenascin-C remained abundant after clinical remission of lesions, indicating that downregulation of tenascin-C to normal values is a slow process. By using a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure levels of serum tenascin-C in psoriatic patients and unaffected individuals, we found that tenascin-C levels in most patients were within the normal range. Moreover, tenascin-C values did not correlate with disease activity. We conclude that tenascin-C is not useful as a marker for disease activity in psoriasis.
Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
M A
MA
Latijnhouwers
M
M
Bergers
A L
AL
Kuijpers
C J
CJ
van der Vleuten
H
H
Dijkman
P C
PC
van de Kerkhof
J
J
Schalkwijk
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D012074:Remission Induction; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D019063:Tenascin / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D019063:Tenascin