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Serum levels of interleukin‐18 and s‐ICAM‐1 in patients affected by psoriasis: preliminary considerations
Author(s) -
Gangemi S,
Merendino RA,
Guarneri F,
Minciullo PL,
DiLorenzo G,
Pacor M,
Cannavò SP
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-3083.2003.00647.x
Subject(s) - psoriasis , medicine , immune system , tumor necrosis factor alpha , immunology , icam 1 , interleukin , cytokine , interleukin 17 , psoriasis area and severity index , cd30 , cell adhesion molecule , immunohistochemistry
Objective To find new aspects of the systemic involvement of the Immune System in psoriasis, we determined serum levels of interleukin‐18 (IL‐18) (Th1‐inducing factor cytokine), CD30 (Th2 marker) and sICAM‐1 (adhesion molecule). In addition we evaluated the correlation between these molecules and psoriasis area and severity index (PASI). Background Psoriasis is associated to an overexpression of Th1 cytokines and a relative underexpression of Th2 cytokines. IL‐18 plays an important role in inducing Th1 response because it is a potent inductor of synthesis of IFN‐γ, TNF and other mediators. The two major sources of IL‐18 are monocytes and macrophages but also human keratinocytes constitutively synthesized IL‐18. Subjects and methods We selected two groups of subjects: 16 healthy donors (HD) and 16 patients affected by psoriasis, matched for sex and age. Serum IL‐18, CD30 and sICAM‐1 levels were assayed by immunoenzymatic method with commercial kits. Results IL‐18 and sICAM‐1 levels in the patients were significantly higher than in the HDs (385.94 ± 193.89 vs. 227.38 ± 92.76 pg/mL, P = 0.005 and 445.00 ± 152.67 vs. 317.88 ± 107.20 ng/mL, P = 0.02, respectively). On the contrary, no significant difference was found between serum sCD30 levels of patients in respect to those of HDs. A significant correlation was found between serum IL‐18 and PASI (Rho = 0.695, P = 0.0071), serum IL‐18 and sICAM‐1 (Rho = 0.543, P = 0.0356) and between sICAM‐1 and PASI (Rho = 0.659, P = 0.0107).