<I>TNF-α</I> gene expression in immune cells of patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

Abstract

Introduction. Psoriatic disease is a heterogeneous inflammatory disease with different clinical manifestations, including plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. It has been shown that elevated levels of TNF-α are observed in both psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. Studying the TNF-α gene expression pattern can help in the differential diagnosis between psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis.The objective is to study the TNF-α gene expression pattern in blood mononuclear cells of patients with psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis for possible differential diagnosis between these two diseases.Materials and methods. Mononuclear cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of 31 patients with plaque psoriasis, 45 patients with psoriatic arthritis and 20 healthy controls. The expression level of the TNF-α gene was analysed using a real-time PCR method.Results and discussion. As a result of the comparison, the expression level of TNF-α in patients with psoriatic arthritis was found to be 179 times higher than the expression level in healthy volunteers. The expression level of TNF-α in patients with psoriasis was also significantly (106 times) higher than the expression level in healthy people. We managed to identify a significant difference between patients with psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis.Conclusions. Patients with psoriasis in terms of TNF-α gene expression level in mononuclear cells are close to the condition of patients with psoriatic arthritis. A high level of TNF-α gene expression can become a marker of possible joint injury in patients with psoriasis and a signal to revise the therapeutic approach to a particular patient.

Keywords

• psoriatic arthritis
• psoriasis
• tnf-α
• gene expression
• rt-pcr