[Intralesional and anatomopathologic features of psoriatic erythroderma]

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory cutaneous disorder. It is marked by aberrant epidermal and dermal expression of cytokines.

Evaluate the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in a particular severe form of psoriasis the psoriatic erythroderma.

We focused on intra-lesional cytokine gene expression in cutaneous biopsies of lesional site and their correspondent non lesional skin. On the whole, four healthy volunteers and thirty six patients were included in this study. Among these, three had a psoriatic erythroderma. Assuming that local production of cytokines may be approached by mRNA cytokine quantification, the expression of alpha tumour necrosis factor (TNFalpha) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) was analyzed by reverse transcription and real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Under expression of all selected molecules in psoriatic erythroderma lesions was contrasted with the data obtained in the other psoriatic lesion forms witch revealed that ratios had significantly increased in lesional skin compared with non lesional one. However, at anatomy-pathology analysis, inflammatory infiltrate in psoriatic erythroderma was classical poor and no specific of this disease, such as the case of our three patients. This could explain the drop of intra-lesional inflammatory mediators.

The paradoxal low levels of proinflammatory cytokines in psoriatic erythroderma are an original and important result.