Abstract: Objective To investigate telomerase activity in patients with psoriasis. Methods The telomerase activity in the skin lesions of patients was detected by TRAP (Telomeric repeat amplification protocol)——ELISA which is based upon PCR amplification of the initial telomerase product and detected by ELISA. Results Telomerase activity was detected in the lesions of psoriatic patients, but the level of it was lower in comparison with that in tissues of malignant tumor and K562 cell line. Conclusion These findings support that the increase of telomerase activity may be linked to the pathogenesis of psoriasis and that the telomerase activity can be detected not only in malignant tumors but also in nonmalignant skin diseases.

Key words: Psoriasis, DNA nucleotidylexotransferase