Circulating tumor necrosis factor‐α DNA are elevated in psoriasis

Abstract

In psoriasis, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α is a key pro‐inflammatory cytokine that activates keratinocytes to produce other inflammatory mediators. In addition, increased serum or plasma TNF‐α levels are considered to be biomarkers of psoriasis. Circulating cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) originates from apoptotic or necrotic cells and reflects the severity of cellular damage. Although cfDNA has recently attracted attention as a marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of various disorders, there are few reports of its clinical implications in the field of dermatology including psoriasis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the TNF‐α gene is present in the cfDNA, and whether its levels can be utilized as a biomarker for patients with psoriasis. cfDNA was isolated from serum samples of 79 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 29 with psoriatic arthritis. The levels of TNF‐α in the cfDNA were assessed by droplet digital polymerase chain reaction. In this study, we made two novel findings. First, circulating TNF‐α DNA levels in the cfDNA were significantly higher in patients with psoriasis than in healthy controls. In addition, the area under the curve was 0.91, suggesting that serum TNF‐α DNA levels are effective as a diagnostic biomarker. Second, the levels of TNF‐α DNA copies in the cfDNA were positively correlated with the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score in the group of patients with a PASI score higher than 10. Generally, a PASI score of more than 10 is defined as severe psoriasis; therefore, the levels of TNF‐α DNA copies in the cfDNA could be a biomarker for severity in patients with severe psoriasis. Further studies are needed to establish serum TNF‐α DNA levels as a novel biomarker of psoriasis.

Knockdown of lncRNA LINC01234 Suppresses The Tumorigenesis of Liver Cancer via Sponging miR-513a-5p

“…It has been reported that TGF-β can activate Smad2 and Smad3 (38). Moreover, multiple studies have found that Smad4 loss on its own does not initiate tumor formation, but can promote fibrosis initiated by other genes, such as KRAS activation in pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma and APC inactivation in renal diseases (39). In this study, we found that LINC01234 knockdown downregulated the expression of p-Smad2, p-Smad3 in liver cancer cells.…”

Circulating Free DNA and Its Emerging Role in Autoimmune Diseases

“…Similar to the other diseases described above, the presence of cfDNA, both in serum and plasma, can reflect the cellular damage in this disease coming from apoptotic or necrotic cells [92,93]. Recently, Sakamoto et al investigated whether the TNF-α gene was present in cfDNA and whether its levels could be used as a biomarker in psoriasis [94]. TNF-α is a key proinflammatory cytokine that activates keratocytes, exacerbating an inflammatory process and constituting an inseparable element of psoriasis [95].…”

Genomic mutational profiling of circulating tumour DNA in metastatic angiosarcoma

“…Isolation of cfDNA and amplification via ddPCR were performed as described previously. 5 Clinical profiles of all patients are shown in Table 1. Therapeutic response was evaluated based on the 'New Guidelines to Evaluate the Response to Treatment in Solid Tumors'.…”