Expression of the psoriasis-associated antigen, Pso p27, is inhibited by cyclosporin A

The psoriasis-associated antigen, pso p27, can be isolated from psoriasis scale and is present in complement-activating immune complexes in psoriatic scale, and in serum from patients with psoriasis. The antigen is produced by tryptase-positive cells in the skin lesions and is shown to be a major antigen in the immune reactions in psoriasis. The synthesis of this particular antigen is reduced with the remission of inflammation in the skin lesions. In this study we followed 3 patients with severe plaque psoriasis during treatment with cyclosporin A. In all patients we observed a decrease in the expression of the antigen pso p27 during the therapy. The effectiveness of the therapy varied among the patients, but there was a clear correlation between disease activity and expression of the antigen pso p27 as demonstrated by immunofluorescence in biopsies from selected skin lesions. This observation strengthens our hypothesis that the pso p27 antigen plays an important role in the inflammation in psoriasis.