title: Expression of glucocorticoid receptor-α in the epidermis of patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
abstract: Expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-α is observed in almost all tissues and cells of the body; thus, investigating the expression of the receptor in the epidermis of patients with psoriasis vulgaris. The aim of the present study was to investigate GR-α expression in the epidermis of psoriasis vulgaris patients The study population consisted of 26 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 10 normal control cases. None of the patients had received any prior treatment with glucocorticoids. Epithelial tissue samples were detected using a streptavidin peroxidation-enzymatic method for biopsy. Non-lesional tissue samples from within a range of 3 cm of lesions formed the non-lesional group, and lesional tissue samples formed the lesional group. Pathological image analysis system (named CMIAS) was used to convert image signals into numeric values, according to the optical density per unit area. GR-α expression was observed within the nucleus in the normal control group; however, cytoplasmic expression was observed in the lesions of the psoriatic group. The optical density values were significantly lower in the psoriatic group when compared with the normal control group, indicating a statistically significant difference in GR-α expression between the two groups (P<0.001), and this decreasing correlation was unaffected by the administration of steroids for 6 months. Therefore, decreased expression of GR-α may play an important role in the degeneration of keratinocytes in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Air Force General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100142, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaowen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Air Force General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100142, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, The First Hospital of Peking University, Beijing 100030, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Sainan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Air Force General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100142, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Guangjin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guo
keywords: expression; glucocorticoid receptor-α; psoriasis vulgaris