A comparative study of psoriatic and non-psoriatic buccal mucosa

Buccal mucosa biopsies from patients (seven with and seven without psoriasis) were studied using autoradiography and SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The flash labelling indices were similar in psoriatic and non-psoriatic patients and the SDS-gel patterns showed variable amounts of 70,000 mol. wt (70K) protein which did not correlate with the presence or absence of psoriasis or with individual labelling indices. An increased labelling occurred at the edges of autoradiographs from psoriatic patients due either to increased penetration of label or to trauma. The possibility of this being a Koebner effect is discussed.