Preliminary Study On The Relationship Between Psoriasis And The Apoptosis Of Keratinocytes

Defective regulation of apoptosis may play an important role in the development of psoriasis, but quiet a few doubtful points remain to be solved and elucidated This dissertation is divided into 5 chapters to present our research reports on the relationship between psoriasis and the apoptosis of keratinocytes. The first chapter displays the morphological and biochemical findings in the psoriatic epidermis. The second chapter elucidates the study on the action of apoptosis-relared genes in defective regulation of apoptosis of the psoriatic lesions. The third chapter introduces the study on the total RNA level in psoriatic lesions of different stages. The fourth chapter elaborates the investigation on the epidermal transglutaminase (TG I)- an important enzyme of the terminal differentiation of keratinocytes and its effect on the apoptosis of keratinocytes. The fifth chapter expounds the effect of topical treatment with calcipotriol ointment on the abnormal apoptosis of psoriasis.1. The apoptotic cell was detected with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique and HE staining in 36 lesional skin samples from patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 4 from psoriatic erythroderma. A large number of keratinocytes showing morphological and biochemical features of cells undergoing apoptosis were observed in all the suprabasal layers of the psoriatic epidermis, especially in the lesions of quiescent and erythrodermic stages. It was suggested that the increased apoptosis of keratinocytes in the lesions of psoriasis may be likely to play some parts in the pathogenesis and development of psoriasis.2. A total of 36 lesional skin samples from patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 4 from psoriatic erythroderma were stained immunohistochemically with monoclonal antibodies to c-myc, P53(DO7), bcl-2 and PCNA and with polyclonal antibody to c-fos. At the same time the mRNA...