Abstract:

Objective To investigate the expression of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor （GM-CSF） in skin lesions and sera of patients with pustular psoriasis and psoriasis vulgaris. Methods Tissue specimens were obtained from the lesions of 15 patients with pustular psoriasis, 15 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 15 normal human controls. Immunohistochemistry and dual antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA） were carried out to detect the levels of GM-CSF in the tissue and serum specimens from the patients and normal human controls, respectively. Results Significantly higher levels of GM-CSF were observed in the tissue and serum specimens from patients with pustular psoriasis and psoriasis vulgaris compared with the normal controls（all P < 0.01）, as well as in those from the patients with pustular psoriasis compared with the patients with psoriasis vulgaris （both P < 0.01）. Conclusion GM-CSF may be involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Key words: psoriasis