Expression and clinical significance of Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 in the serum of patients with psoriasis vulgaris

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of serum Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 levels in patients with psoriasis vulgaris (PV). Methods A total of 122 patients with PV were enrolled as the PV group (including 36 cases in the mild group, 54 cases in the moderate group, 32 cases in the severe group), and 60 healthy controls were enrolled from the physical examination center. The serum levels of hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin6 (IL-6), Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between serum levels of Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 and PV severity, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze its diagnostic value. Results The levels of hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 in PV group were significantly higher than that in the controls (P<0.05). The serum levels of Claudin-1 in the PV group were significantly lower than that in the controls (t=11.96, P<0.001), while the serum levels of Claudin-3 was significantly higher in the PV group (t=10.64, P<0.001). The serum levels of Claudin-1 were negatively correlated with disease severity (r=-0.38), hs-CRP (r=-0.18) and TNF-α levelsm(r=-0.22) (all P<0.05). In contrast, serum levels of Claudin-3 were positively correlated with disease severity (r=0.41), and serum levels of hs-CRP (r=0.20), TNF-α (r=0.18) and IL-6 (r=0.36) (all P<0.05). Moreover, serum levels of Claudin-1 were negatively correlated with Claudin-3 (r=-0.22, P=0.015). The areas under the curve of Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 for the diagnosis of PV were 0.875 and 0.867, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of TNF-α (Z values were 4.16 and 3.60, respectively, P<0.001) and IL-6 (Z values were 3.63, 3.52, respectively, P<0.001). Conclusions The altered expression levels of serum Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 in PV patients are associated with disease severity and the levels of inflammatory markers. Alterations of Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 expression are independent risk factors for PV. Serum levels of Claudin-1 and Claudin-3 have some diagnostic value for PV.

Keywords

• claudin-1
• claudin-3
• psoriasis vulgaris
• disease severity