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Updated: Jul 11, 2026
Studying Chronic Exposure of Mice to Ultraviolet B Radiation
Published on: August 19, 2025
Effects of narrowband UV-B on pharmacodynamic markers of response to therapy: an immunohistochemical study over
Jose-Manuel Carrascosa1, Gustavo Tapia, Isabel Bielsa
1Department of Dermatology, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain. jmcarrascosac.germanstrias@gencat.net
Background:
To evaluate the effects of narrow-band UV-B (NBUVB) on the immunohistochemical markers of cellular and cytokine activation as well as of abnormal epidermal differentiation and proliferation--pharmacodynamic markers of response to therapy (PMT)--in psoriatic lesions.
Methods:
Clinical assessments and immunohistological staining of formalin-fixed paraffin sections of biopsies from psoriatic skin were done at baseline and at the end of the treatment period.
Results:
Ten patients with chronic plaque-type psoriasis were included. After treatment with NBUVB, the total number of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was reduced by an average of 86.6%, 86% and 85% in the epidermis and 70.3%, 70% and 62% in the dermis, respectively. Only the decrease in the number of epidermal CD4+ cells was statistically related with long-lasting remissions. The mean reduction in the expression of keratinocyte proliferation markers after NBUVB was 62%, 68% and 81% for Ki-67, cyclin A and cyclin B, respectively. Expression of suprabasal keratin 16 and filaggrin was almost normalized in most cases. All patients in whom expression of keratin16 remained after finishing UV-B therapy had an early relapse.
Conclusions:
NBUVB is associated with changes in PMT close to those seen after remittive therapies. The normalization of immunohistochemical parameters of differentiation and the reduction/depletion in epidermal CD4+ cells was the most important markers of long-lasting remissions.
