CD3+CD56+ NK T cells are significantly decreased in the peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis.
Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, hyperproliferative skin disease, in which autoimmunity plays a great role. Natural killer T cells (NK T cells), are suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of different autoimmune diseases. To examine the involvement of CD3+CD56+ NK T cells in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, we investigated the lymphocyte subpopulations obtained from blood samples of psoriatic patients before and after treatment, and of healthy controls, using two-colour flow cytometry. We found no significant differences between total T cells, total B cells, T helper cells, T cytotoxic cells and NK cells in patients with psoriasis before and after treatment and in controls. Increased percentage of memory T cells and decreased percentage of naive T cells was detected in psoriatic patients compared to controls, but these changes were not statistically significant. The CD3+CD56+ cells of psoriatic patients were significantly decreased relative to controls. The percentage of CD3+CD56+ cells increased after different antipsoriatic therapies, but remained significantly lower than those found in controls. CD3+CD56+ cells of healthy controls were capable of rapid activation, while in psoriatic patients activated NK T cells were almost absent. The decrease in the number of CD3+CD56+ cells may represent an intrinsic characteristic feature of patients with psoriasis, which is supported by the fact that after treatment NK T cells do not reach the values found in controls. In conclusion our results suggest that CD3+CD56+ NK T cells could be actively involved in the development of Th1 mediated autoimmune diseases.
Koreck
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Department of Dermatology, Faculty of General Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. koreck@derma.szote.u-szeged.hu
Surányi
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A
Szöny
B J
BJ
Farkas
A
A
Bata-Csörgö
Z
Z
Kemény
L
L
Dobozy
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015551:Autoimmunity; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000276:immunology; D019002:CD56 Antigen / Q000276:immunology; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology
D017252:CD3 Complex; D019002:CD56 Antigen