Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of membrane CD14 （mCD14）, Toll-like receptor 4 （TLR4） and nuclear factor-kappa B （NF-кB） in peripheral blood leukocytes from patients with psoriasis vulgaris （PV）. Methods Blood samples were obtained from 29 normal controls and 32 patients with PV. Patient cohort consisted of 19 males and 13 females, with an average age of 30.28 ± 13.11 years, disease duration of 8.21 ± 10.21 years, and PASI score of 21.19 ± 5.85. Flow cytometry was used to measure the expression of mCD14, TLR4 and activated NF-кB in peripheral blood leukocytes in these subjects. Results The expressions of mCD14 and TLR4 in peripheral blood leukocytes were significantly higher in patients than in the normal controls （5.454 ± 2.78 vs 3.937 ± 1.964, P < 0.05; 17.641 ± 18.120 vs 7.527 ± 8.574, P < 0.01）. Although the expression of activated NF-кB in total blood leukocytes in patients was higher than that in normal controls, no statistical difference was noticed （63.538 ± 8.650 vs 62.236 ± 6.72, P > 0.05）. Conclusion There is an abnormal expression of mCD14 and TLR4 in patients with PV, suggesting that the abnormal activation of endotoxin signal transduction pathway may exert a role in the induction of psoriasis.

Key words: CD14;TLR4;NF-кB;psoriasis;CD14, TLR4, NF-кB, psoriasis