The association of PASI scores with CRH-R1 expression in patients with psoriasis

Stress is a well-known triggering factor along with genetic predisposition on the onset and during the course of psoriasis by altering the cellular constituents of the immune system. In the skin, there is a local hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis which is the equivalent of the central HPA axis. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is a major regulator of the HPA axis in response to stress. This study was planned to show the role of CRH receptor type 1 (CRH-R1) in pathogenesis of psoriasis, the relation with the severity of psoriasis, and interpersonal variance in skin biopsy specimens of the psoriasis patient. Study involved 46 patients with psoriasis and 20 healthy control subjects who were older than 18 years. The clinical sign and PASI scores of psoriasis patients were recorded. Immunohistochemically, expression of CRH-R1 was investigated in psoriatic lesions and control group skin. A statistically significant increase of the expression of CRH-R1 was found in the skin biopsies of psoriasis patients compared with the control group patients. In patients with psoriasis, there was a positive correlation between the expressions of CRH-R1 and PASI scores (p = 0.001, r = +0.572). In addition, a statistically significant increase of PASI scores was found in the intense-stained CRH-R1 group compared with the weakly stained CRH-R1 patient group. The present study has demonstrated that CRH-R1 could have a role in pathogenesis of the psoriasis and stress may increase the intensity of psoriasis.