A Global Gene Expression Analysis of the Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Reveals the Gene Expression Signature in Psoriasis

Abstract

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects approximately 1~3% of the general population. Objective: We performed cDNA microarray analysis with using the dendrimer labelling method to investigate the gene expression profile in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of psoriatic patients. Methods: The peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 5 patients with psoriasis and 8 control subjects were used in the gene expression analyses of psoriasis. Results: We identified 212 differentially expressed genes that showed at least a two-fold induction and/or reduction in psoriatic patients. Among those, 63 genes, including CD44, CD56 and IL7R, were induced, while 139 genes, including the sphingosine kinase 1 and p16-INK genes, were reduced in the psoriatic patients. Conclusion: We can speculate that these genes may have a role for the pathogenesis of psoriasis via their affecting different cellular functions. Our results suggest a possible mechanism by which activated immune cells migrate from the blood to the skin in psoriatic patients, and we provide novel putative targets for developing drugs to treat psoriasis. (Ann Dermatol 21(3) 237∼242, 2009)

Interleukin-7 and Immunosenescence

“…The notion that low IL-7R expression levels are beneficial for reaching healthy old age corresponds with previous observations that patients suffering from autoimmune disease express increased levels of the IL-7 receptor/ligand complex genes [101, 102, 104] and that antagonizing IL-7 or the IL-7R may offer possible treatments [95, 101]. However, the results of the Leiden Longevity Study found that gene expression levels of IL-7R decrease with chronological age.…”

A Subset of Methylated CpG Sites Differentiate Psoriatic from Normal Skin

“…This is similar to the major alterations in mRNA levels from psoriatic versus normal skin (Bowcock et al , 2001; Gudjonsson et al , 2010; Mee et al , 2007; Nomura et al , 2003; Quekenborn-Trinquet et al , 2005; Suarez-Farinas et al , 2010; Zhou et al , 2003). Psoriatic blood has limited expression changes compared to blood from healthy controls (Lee et al , 2009) and we would expect similar findings from an investigation of methylation alterations in this tissue…”

Psoriasis vulgaris and familial cancer risk- a population-based study

“…Since this theory conflicts with other findings [22,23,38], any association that may exist is likely to be weak and potentially restricted to specific populations. Down-expression of another cancer susceptibility gene, CDKN2A (predisposing to melanoma, cancers of the pancreas, breast and lung), led to speculation that the gene may have a role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis [24]. Our findings do not support this thesis.…”

“…lead to tumour development. Some of these “cancer risk” gene alterations were also reported to be associated with psoriasis risk [22-24]. To evaluate the possible link between psoriasis and cancer, we examined the distribution of 17 mutations/polymorphisms in 10 known cancer susceptibility genes among patients and 517 matched healthy controls.…”