Membrane and soluble T oll‐like receptor 2 in patients with psoriasis treated by G oeckerman therapy

Background Toll‐like receptor ( TLR ) 2 belongs to the large TLR receptor family comprised of at least 10 members with different roles in innate immunity. Psoriasis is recognized as a T ‐cell driven immune‐mediated systemic inflammatory disease with a skin manifestation. An effective therapeutic approach to treat psoriasis is G oeckerman therapy ( GT ). The aim of this study was to assess both the kinetics of the expression of TLR 2 on blood cells and the concentration of soluble (s) TLR 2 in serum of patients with psoriasis and to examine the effect of GT on both TLR 2 expression and sTLR 2 level. Methods Both membrane and sTLR 2 were determined in 20 patients and 20 healthy controls. sTLR 2 was evaluated by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Flow cytometry method was used to determine the expression of membrane TLR 2 of monocytes and granulocytes. Results The serum level of sTLR 2 was significantly lower ( P  < 0.0001) in patients both before and after GT compared to the control group. Compared to the membrane expression of TLR 2 on monocytes of healthy blood donors, TLR 2 expression was significantly higher in patients both before and after GT ( P  = 0.0001). Similarly, TLR 2 expression on granulocytes was significantly higher in patients both before ( P  = 0.0061) and after ( P  < 0.0001) therapy than in control. Conclusions Membrane and soluble TLR 2 may be involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Both remained unchanged by GT .