sodium-dodecyl-sulfate and Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a disorder characterized by faster than normal skin growth, resulting in a buildup of thickened areas with a scaly appearance. Common sites of involvement include the scalp, elbows, knees, and back. Moisturization of these areas may provide relief by increasing hydration. Accordingly, the use of a moisturizing cream (Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream) was studied in participants with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis (5%-10% body surface area) who either were not being treated or had discontinued the use of all topical psoriasis medications and all other moisturizers and remained off of them for the entire study. The condition of the participants'skin was objectively monitored for skin barrier function through transepidermal water loss (TEWL), skin hydration through corneometry, and desquamation through the use of sticky tape corneocyte counts (D-SQUAME). Thirty participants were enrolled. The results of this 4-week study indicate there was no further damage to the skin barrier, as no significant change in TEWL was seen. Furthermore, skin hydration increased over the course of the study. Desquamation measurements showed a significant percentage of participants with skin improvements from very dry to dry or normal (P < .0001 for all time points). All of these effects were noted despite the absence of topical psoriasis treatment. The investigator assessed that this moisturizer was well-tolerated and appropriate for use on the damaged skin of participants with psoriasis.

Topics: Administration, Topical; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Drug Combinations; Emollients; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Propylene Glycols; Psoriasis; Skin Absorption; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Treatment Outcome; Water Loss, Insensible

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new noninvasive imaging technique. In this study, it was used for the investigation of contact dermatitis and psoriasis. In these common inflammatory skin diseases the value of OCT for quantification and monitoring of the changes in comparison with other bioengineering methods was evaluated. Repeated measurements were performed in healthy volunteers after experimental induction of irritant contact dermatitis and in patients with psoriasis. In the OCT images, the thickness of the epidermis and the signal attenuation coefficient in the upper dermis were evaluated. The changes were compared with measurements of transepidermal water loss, hydration, skin colour and surface roughness, and with high-frequency ultrasound measurements. In irritant dermatitis and psoriasis, thickening of the epidermis was detected and could be monitored over time. The light scattering in the upper dermis was lower than in healthy skin. This was interpreted to be due to the inflammation and oedema, leading to a less-dense arrangement of the collagen fibres. The changes in the OCT images did not significantly correlate with the changes shown by the other methods. OCT is an interesting tool for investigation of inflammatory skin diseases. It is a simple method for determination of epidermal thickness and therefore provides, in addition to other methods, information on the severity of the disease and on treatment effects.

Topics: Case-Control Studies; Dermatitis, Contact; Humans; Irritants; Psoriasis; Scattering, Radiation; Skin; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Surface-Active Agents; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Ultrasonography

It has been reported that occlusive treatment of irritated skin results in a reduction of barrier repair activities in hairless mice. In contrast, the clinically observed benefit of occlusion in the treatment of hand eczema and other chronic skin diseases with a perturbed barrier function is well-known. While the beneficial effect of occlusion has been proven for the treatment of psoriasis there are no controlled clinical studies of the effect of occlusion on irritated human skin. We have therefore evaluated the effect of various occlusive treatments on repair of the human skin permeability barrier under controlled experimental conditions. Barrier perturbation was induced either by application of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or by repeated tape stripping. This was followed by treatment with different occlusive and semipermeable dressings, partly after pre-treatment with petrolatum. Repair of water barrier function was evaluated by daily measurements of transepidermal water loss (TEWL) for 1 week. SLS irritation and tape stripping led to a 6-fold increase in TEWL as a sign of severe water barrier perturbation, followed by a stepwise decrease over the following days. Occlusion did not significantly delay barrier repair as measured by TEWL. Only in tape-stripped skin did TEWL stay at high levels during treatment with self-adhesive dressings. This may be explained by damage of newly formed stratum corneum caused by changing of these membranes. Our results indicate that, in contrast to earlier observations in hairless mouse skin, permeability barrier repair activities are not significantly delayed by occlusive treatment in human skin.

Topics: Adult; Animals; Bandages; Chronic Disease; Dermatitis, Irritant; Eczema; Emollients; Female; Hand Dermatoses; Humans; Irritants; Male; Mice; Mice, Hairless; Middle Aged; Occlusive Dressings; Permeability; Petrolatum; Polyethylenes; Polytetrafluoroethylene; Polyurethanes; Psoriasis; Skin; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Water Loss, Insensible; Wound Healing

p21WAF1/CIP1 is a nucleoprotein that was initially characterized by its ability to be regulated transcriptionally by p53 and by its ability to mediate growth arrest by binding to cyclin-dependent kinases. Although p21WAF1/CIP1 is thought to mediate the effects of p53 in causing growth arrest, p21WAF1/CIP1 is also regulated in a p53-independent manner, e.g., during terminal differentiation of some cell lines. Growth factors including epidermal growth factor also induce p21WAF1/CIP1 through p53-independent pathways. Because the epidermal growth factor signaling pathway is abnormal in psoriatic epidermis, we studied p21WAF1/CIP1 expression, using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, in psoriasis. Both p21WAF1/CIP1 mRNA and protein were significantly elevated in untreated psoriatic plaques compared with uninvolved psoriatic skin (p < 0.0001), with the up-regulation of p21WAF1/CIP1 being predominantly suprabasal. This increase was accompanied by a small increase in p53 protein expression of uncertain significance. Furthermore, p21WAF1/CIP1 expression was induced in skin after sellotape stripping and by the application of agents, such as dithranol, that are capable of inducing hyperproliferation. The pattern of p21WAF1/CIP1 expression observed is consistent with a role in induction and maintenance of differentiation. Our experiments, however, cannot determine whether the abnormalities of p21WAF1/CIP1 epidermal expression in psoriasis and after insult are independent of changes in p53 expression.

Topics: Anthralin; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; Cyclins; Epidermis; Humans; Irritants; Physical Stimulation; Psoriasis; RNA, Messenger; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53

PA-FABP (psoriasis-associated fatty acid-binding protein) is a new member of a group of low-molecular-weight proteins that are highly up-regulated in psoriatic skin and that share similarity to fatty acid-binding proteins. In this study we demonstrate that PA-FABP transcripts are expressed in human skin in vivo and that topical application of 0.05% retinoic acid (RA) cream results in a rapid induction of PA-FABP transcripts following treatment for 16 hours and persists at increasing levels after 48 and 96 h of RA treatment. The PA-FABP mRNA response to RA was reduced by approximately 50% when patients concurrently were treated with RA and 0.025% clobetasol propionate (CLO) for 48 and 96 h, whereas treatment with CLO alone resulted in PA-FABP transcript levels not significantly different from vehicle-treated skin. When comparing the effects of a well-known irritant, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), to those of RA and its vehicle, 0.05% RA cream but not 2% SLS in RA vehicle caused PA-FABP mRNA induction after 16 h. SLS treatment of human skin for 96 h caused a slight increase in PA-FABP transcripts, but markedly less than that observed in response to RA treatment. Incubation of cultured human keratinocytes or skin fibroblasts with RA for up to 48 h did not significantly induce PA-FABP transcripts. Expression of PA-FABP message in keratinocytes was observed to be induced by calcium and fetal calf serum (FCS), while tetra-decanoyl phorbol acetate (TPA) caused little or no induction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Base Sequence; Carrier Proteins; Cells, Cultured; Clobetasol; Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 7; Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; Gene Expression; Humans; Keratinocytes; Molecular Probes; Molecular Sequence Data; Neoplasm Proteins; Psoriasis; RNA, Messenger; Skin; Skin Physiological Phenomena; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Tissue Distribution; Tretinoin; Tumor Suppressor Proteins

Recently we described a new elastase inhibitor (skin-derived antileukoproteinase, SKALP) that is expressed in psoriatic epidermis and cultured keratinocytes, but is virtually absent in normal skin. In this study we investigated whether SKALP activity could be measured in urine of psoriatic patients and healthy controls. We found that urine of psoriatic patients contained considerable amounts of anti-elastase activity, whereas this activity in urine from normals was significantly lower. The properties of the urinary anti-elastase activity in psoriatic patients were indistinguishable from that of epidermal SKALP. It was found to be a cationic, heat-stable protein with an apparent molecular weight of 11 kDa on sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and a K(i) of approximately 2 x 10(-11) M. In addition, in Western blotting partially purified inhibitor from urine was found to react with a polyclonal anti-SKALP serum. SKALP in urine was either present in a free form or in a latent form, most likely complexed with elastase. We speculate that SKALP in urine of psoriatic patients is derived from the epidermis, and that it might serve as a marker for disease activity.

Topics: Adult; Blotting, Western; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; Proteins; Psoriasis; Serine Proteinase Inhibitors; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

Interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1 beta) proteins were studied by enzymoimmunoassay (EIA) and Immunoblot analysis in the 10,000 g supernatant of normal and psoriatic (lesional and nonlesional) human skin specimens. By EIA IL-1 alpha was the principal form detected in all the specimens, which contrasts with the predominance of IL-1 beta in human blood monocytes. In psoriatic plaques relatively less IL-1 alpha and more IL-1 beta were detected. On Immunoblot analysis the mature form (17 kD) was not detected in normal skin, which showed only 52-kD immunoreactive forms. In contrast the 17-kD form was found in psoriatic skin. This indicates either a distinct processing of IL-1 molecules or a contribution of inflammatory cells infiltration to the IL-1 pool in psoriatic plaques. During systemic retinoids therapy the amount of both IL-1 species decreased in lesional and nonlesional psoriatic skin.

Topics: Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Epidermis; Female; Humans; Immunoblotting; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Interleukin-1; Male; Psoriasis; Retinoids; Skin; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

The biochemical properties and immunohistochemical localization of calpain, a Ca++-dependent, intracellular, nonlysosomal cysteine proteinase was examined in human skin. Human epidermal calpain I was fractionated on a DEAE-cellulose column and was found to be half-maximally activated at 3.5 microM free Ca++ and fully activated at 10 microM Ca++ as measured by casein hydrolysis. Immunoelectrophoretic blotting of calpain revealed only a single band of Mr 83,000, when the blot was made with affinity-purified anti-calpain I heavy subunit IgG. Immunohistochemical staining of normal human epidermis showed that calpain I was localized in the cytoplasm of keratinocytes in the mid to upper epidermis but not in the basal cells. In untreated psoriatic epidermis, the deposition of this proteinase was visualized weakly just beneath the stratum corneum. However, remarkable staining was observed after photochemotherapy of topical psoralen plus long-wave UV irradiation. Whether the photochemotherapy induced a quantitative increase in the amount of calpain or merely made calpain more stainable by altering the membrane remains unknown.

Topics: Antibody Specificity; Calpain; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Epidermis; Humans; Photochemotherapy; Psoriasis; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Staining and Labeling

Topics: Adult; Aged; Child; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Epidermis; Female; Humans; Keratins; Male; Middle Aged; Peptides; Psoriasis; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

The sodium lauryl (dodecyl) sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SLS PAGE) patterns of keratin polypeptides were followed in 29 patients with psoriasis who were treated with middle wavelength ultraviolet (UV) radiation (UV B), oral methoxsalen, and long wavelength UV radiation (PUVA), or systemic antipsoriatic therapy. The keratin patterns from the Malpighian layer reverted to normal in several weeks, while those of the stratum corneum keratin reverted more slowly, often after clinical clearance of the lesions. These data may indicate that therapy should not be discontinued until there is production of normal stratum corneum polypeptides.

Topics: Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Epidermis; Furocoumarins; Humans; Keratins; Methoxsalen; Peptides; Photochemotherapy; Psoriasis; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate