Expression of Th17 cytokines in skin lesions of patients with psoriasis

In order to investigate the role of Th17 cytokines in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of IL-17, IL-23 (p19/p40), and IL-6 in skin lesions and non-lesions of the patients with psoriasis and skin tissues of normal subjects. The results showed that the mRNA expression levels of IL-17, IL-23p19, IL-23p40 and IL-6 in psoriasis leision were significantly higher than those of non-leisions (1.231 ± 0.843 vs 1.003 ± 0.044, 1.166 ± 0.142 vs 0.765 ± 0.133, 1.125 ± 0.104 vs 0.730 ± 0.103, 1.186 ± 0.222 vs 0.976 ± 0.122, respectively, all P < 0.05). Meanwhile, The expression levels of IL-17 mRNA, IL-23p19 mRNA, IL-23p40 mRNA and IL-6 mRNA were higher in non-leisions than those in normal skin tissues (1.003 ± 0.044 vs 0.620 ± 0.104, 0.765 ± 0.133 vs 0.584 ± 0.078, 0.730 ± 0.103 vs 0.000 ± 0.000, 0.976 ± 0.122 vs 0.656 ± 0.121, respectively, all P < 0.05). The overexpression of Th17 cytokines in the skin lesions of patients with psoriasis may indicate that Th17 cytokines play a very important role in the immunopathogenesis of psoriasis.