title: Plasma interleukin-18 and dendritic cells in males with psoriasis vulgaris.
abstract: Peripheral blood dendritic cells seem to play a crucial role in psoriatic inflammatory processes. The aim of our study is to investigate the relationship between plasma interleukin-18 (IL-18) levels and blood dendritic cells in psoriatic patients. IL-18 plasma levels were measured by ELISA. Phenotypes of dendritic cell subsets were analyzed by double-colour flow cytometry. Plasma IL-18 level in psoriatic males was significantly higher, whereas counts of BDCA-2+ cells were lower than in the control group. The myeloid/plasmacytoid ratio was significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control one. In the patient group, significant negative correlations between plasma IL-18 level and both the BDCA-1+ and BDCA-2+ counts were found. BDCA-1+ counts correlated negatively with percentage of skin involvement. IL-18 seems to play a role in psoriasis pathogenesis. The decreased counts of blood plasmacytoid DCs in psoriatic patients might result from IL-18 down-regulation of plasmacytoid DC precursor proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Paediatric Dermatology, Medical University of Lublin, 13 Radziwiłłowska Street, 20-080 Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Aldona
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pietrzak
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Janowski
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chodorowska
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michalak-Stoma
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roliński
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zalewska
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jastrzebska
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tabarkiewicz
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paszkowski
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kapeć
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krasowska
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018949:Antigens, CD1; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000378:metabolism; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006023:Glycoproteins; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood*; D037181:Lectins, C-Type / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D022423:Myeloid Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D018949:Antigens, CD1; D000954:Antigens, Surface; C437944:CD1C protein, human; D006023:Glycoproteins; D020382:Interleukin-18; D037181:Lectins, C-Type