The mitogenic effects of sera from psoriatic subjects on normal dermal fibroblasts: an absence of correlation with the clinical activity of psoriasis

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Abstract
Serum was obtained from 21 normal and 22 psoriatic subjects, and the severity of skin disease in the psoriatic patients was recorded using the PASI score. The scores ranged from 1.8 to 51.0. The growth stimulatory effect of the sera on normal dermal fibroblasts in cell culture was assessed by measuring [3H]-thymidine uptake. Each serum was assessed at four concentrations (2,5, 10,20%). The psoriatic sera were more growth stimulatory than normal sera, but this difference was statistically significant (P less than 0.02) only at 20% serum concentration. Eleven of the 22 psoriatic serum samples had a mitogenic effect greater than the mean +/- SEM of all the normal sera; these sera were then from patients with PASI scores of 4.5-51.0. Six of these psoriatic subjects were recalled after 5 months; their PASI scores were reassessed, and the mitogenic effect of new serum samples was compared with that of the initial samples. All of these patients displayed a change in serum mitogenic effect, but this was not consistent with the change in severity of skin disease over the corresponding time period. In one subject, the severity of the psoriasis had increased marginally over the 5 months, while the mitogenic effect of her serum decreased significantly (mean counts of 43808 vs. 32660; P = 0.0029).