Abstract: Objective To investigate the peripheral blood T lymphocyte profile of patients with psoriasis of blood-heat and blood-dryness type,and to compare it with that of normal controls.Methods Peripheral blood T lymphocyte profile in PBMCs was measured by flow cytometer in 35 patients with psoriasis of blood-heat type and 30 patients with psoriasis of blood-dryness type.Results In the peripheral blood of psoriatic patients of blood-heat type,CD4⁺ T lymphocyte count and the ratio of CD4/CD8 lymphocytes were significantly decreased,while CD8⁺ T lymphocyte count was significantly increased as compared to that in the psoriatic patients of blood-dryness type and in healthy controls.The T lymphocyte profile in blood-dryness syndrome psoriatic patients was similar to that in health controls.Conclusions T lymphocytes might be the main differentiating cells to identify pattern and seek disease causes of psoriasis of blood-heat and blood-dryness types.

Key words: Psoriasis, Blood-heat, Blood-dryness, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, T lymphocytes