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Updated: May 31, 2026
Lymphocyte Isolation from Human Skin for Phenotypic Analysis and Ex Vivo Cell Culture
Published on: April 8, 2016
CD4+ CD25+ T-regulatory cells in psoriasis. Correlation between their numbers and biologics-induced clinical
Antonio Giovanni Richetta1, Carlo Mattozzi, Monica Salvi
1University of Rome La Sapienza, Viale del Policlinico 155, 00133 Rome, Italy. antoniorichetta@hotmail.com
Background:
Regulatory T-cells (T-reg) play a central role in the immunopathogenesis of psoriasis. T-reg cells are both functionally and numerically impaired in psoriasis and they are up-regulated by drug therapy.
Objective:
To analyse the circulating CD4+CD25 bright FOXP3+ subset in 14 patients with vulgaris/arthropathic psoriasis treated with biological drugs and to investigate their relationship with the clinical response.
Methods:
The CD4+ CD25 bright FOXP3+ expression was determined in peripheral blood by flow cytometry at baseline and during treatment.
Results:
A response was obtained in 10/14 patients with increased CD4+ CD25 bright FOXP3+ (T-reg) in peripheral blood after the first month and then 4 months after therapy with biological drugs. This increase is associated with the achievement of a clinical response and with a reduction in the Psoriasis Activity and Severity Index (PASI) score. 2/14 patients showed a decrease in T-reg after drug therapy and this decrease correlated with a worsening of the clinical skin.
Conclusion:
Biological drugs induce circulating T-reg up-regulation in psoriatic patients; such an increase is an early predictive marker of clinical response.
