Serum Cytokine Profile in Psoriasis-A Case–Control Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital from Northern India

Abstract

Psoriasis is chronic autoimmune hyperproliferative skin disease with a population prevalence of 1.5-3%. The cause of psoriasis is still not fully understood. It has been hypothesized to be an immune-mediated disorder in which the excessive reproduction of keratinocytes is due to cytokines such as interferon (IFN)-gamma and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, secreted by infiltrating CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells and natural killer cells. The aim of our study was to determine the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-4, IL-6 & IL-10 in psoriasis patients and compare it with healthy controls. 30 clinically diagnosed psoriasis patients and 30 age and sex matched healthy controls were included in the study. The serum cytokine levels were measured by solid phase sandwich ELISA (DIACLONE Research, France). TNF-α and IL-6 levels were significantly raised in patients and the results were statistically significant (P < 0.001). IL-4 levels were higher in patients than in controls (1.91 ± 4.7 pg/ml in cases & 0.9 ± 0.3 pg/ml in controls) but were not statistically significant. Interestingly, IL-10 levels were found to be higher in controls than in patients but again, it was not statistically significant. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and it is the type 1(TH1) cytokine pattern, i.e., IL-6 & TNF-α, which predominate in the psoriatic T cell response. Further studies on IL-10 levels in psoriasis are recommended to establish their exact role in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Effect of the Biological Drug Etanercept on Tumor necrosis factor-α Levels in Psoriatic Patients

“…The current study showed that the serum levels of TNF-α in psoriatic patients were significantly increased comparing with healthy control group. In line with this results, most studies have reported that the serum levels of TNF-α are significantly increased in patients with psoriasis compared with those of healthy controls [29,11,[30][31][32][33]. These data confirmed by recent studies which denoted that TNF-α has pivotal role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis [34,14,35].…”

“…The results clarified that the age was ranged between 20-60 years and the mean age for psoriasis was 42.8±2.0. The results recorded that most psoriasis patients (52.08 %) were within the second and third decades (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35) year, while the lowest percentages were in (51-65) year. This results were in agreement with [19,20], who indicated that the age of psoriatic patients was within the second and third decades.…”

Immunological and histological evaluation of clinical samples from psoriasis patients treated with anti-CD6 itolizumab

“…63 Although levels of this cytokine in serum could be expected to increase in response to anti-inflammatory therapies in psoriasis patients, in a study where an anti-IL-12p40 mAb was administered, a decrease in IL-10 levels was observed in 94% of the patients. 64 Both in an Indian study 49 and in an Italian study, 65 it was found that IL-10 levels were lower in patients than in HD. In contrast, in our results serum levels of this cytokine were higher in patients.…”

“…TNF plays an important role in psoriasis pathogenesis and anti-TNF therapies have shown their effectiveness in controlling psoriatic symptoms. 48 Release of IFN-γ and TNF by activated T cells in psoriatic skin leads to keratinocyte activation, 49 with the expression of more than 100 genes in response to these cytokines. 50,51 Once activated, keratinocytes produce IL-6 and IL-8, 52,53 which sustain inflammation and promote abnormal keratinocyte proliferation.…”

Therapeutic Effect of Combined Colon Clear and Cupping Therapy on Idiopathic Skin Pathology

“…The etiology of these inflammatory atopic skin disorders is still obscure but it is basically autoimmune triggered and maintained by an aberrant response of the skin immune system cells [2]. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a pivot role in the pathogenesis of immune skin pathologies [2,3].…”