Abstract:

Objective To quantify CD123+ BDCA-2+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells （PDCs） in skin lesions and peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis vulgaris, and to investigate their significance. Methods Skin tissue samples were resected from the lesions of 22 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and normal skin of 15 healthy controls, and peripheral blood samples were also obtained from these subjects. Immunohistochemical technique （SP） was used to quantify PDCs in skin tissue samples, and flow cytometry to determine the proportion of PDCs in peripheral blood samples. Results Immunohistochemical study showed that the density of PDCs in the psoriatic lesions was significantly higher than that in the healthy controls （（10.1 ± 2.1）/mm2 vs.（0.4 ± 0.6）/mm2, t = 17.34, P < 0.01）. On the contrast, the proportion of PDCs in peripheral blood was 0.17％ ± 0.07％ in the patients with psoriasis vulgaris, significantly lower than that in the healthy controls（0.33％ ± 0.20％, t = 4.48, P < 0.01）. Conclusions The proportion of PDCs is reduced in the peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis vulgaris, which may be related to the initiation and progression of psoriasis vulgaris.

Key words: Dendritic Cell