An increase of mature type skin collagen cross-link, histidinohydroxylysinonorleucine, in the sclerotic skin of morphea.
Histidinohydroxylysinonorleucine (HHL) is a trivalent cross-link of type I collagen that is stable and has physiologic properties. In this study, we conducted a biochemical quantification of HHL in five patients with morphea. We compared the quantity of HHL contained in the lesional skin and the adjacent normal skin. The molar ratio of HHL to collagen in the sclerotic lesion was significantly higher than that of the adjacent normal skin (0.36 +/- 0.09 vs. 0.28 +/- 0.10, P<0.01). We could find no relationship between an increase of HHL content and the duration of the disease. The results indicate that an increased amount of HHL may play a certain role to inducing the sclerotic skin change characteristic of morphea.
Tamura
M
M
Department of Dermatology, Gunma University School of Medicine, 3-39-22, Showa-machi, Maebashi, 371-8511, Gunma, Japan. mtamura@akagi.sb.gunma-u.ac.jp
Ishikawa
O
O
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006639:Histidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012594:Scleroderma, Localized / Q000378:metabolism*; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism*
D004151:Dipeptides; C075793:histidinohydroxylysinonorleucine; D006639:Histidine; D003094:Collagen