@Article{,
AUTHOR = {Arjen Companjen, Leontine van der Wel, Leslie van der Fits, Jon Laman, Errol Prens},
TITLE = {Elevated interleukin-18 protein expression in early active and progressive plaque-type psoriatic lesions},
JOURNAL = {European Cytokine Network},
VOLUME = {15},
YEAR = {2004},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {210--216},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/ECN/v15n3/66376},
ISSN = {1952-4005},
ABSTRACT = {Psoriasis is a T cell-mediated inflammatory skin disease characterized by an elevated IFN-γ and
IL-12p70 expression in skin lesions. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) synergizes with IL-12 to induce IFN-γ production and
a strong T-helper-1-mediated immune response, or to induce Th2 polarization depending on the immunological
context. We have previously shown that keratinocytes in normal skin produce and store large amounts of
pro-IL-18. In this study, we hypothesized that the expression of IL-18 in psoriatic lesional skin might be altered
compared to normal skin. Therefore, IL-18 expression was assessed in psoriatic, stable, plaque-type lesions and
early active and progressive lesions. IL-18 mRNA and protein concentrations were constitutively high, and did not
differ between normal and stable, plaque-type epidermis. In active and progressive lesions an elevated expression
of total IL-18 protein relative to normal and stable, plaque-type epidermis was detected using ELISA, while on
Western blot, the differences in pro- or mature IL-18 were less clear. Our results indicate that the role of IL-18
in the pathogenesis of early phases of psoriasis may be more prominent than in established psoriatic lesions.},
DOI = {}
}