The Number of Immunoregulatory T Cells is Increased in Patients with Psoriasis after Goeckerman Therapy

Kondělková, Kateřina; Vokurková, Doris; Krejsek, Jan; Borská, Lenka; Fiala, Zdeněk; Hamáková, Květoslava; Andrýs, Ctirad

doi:10.14712/18059694.2015.62

Acta Medica > Archive > 2012, Vol. 55 > Issue 2 > The Number of Immunoregulatory T Cells…

Acta Med. 2012, 55: 91-95

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2015.62

The Number of Immunoregulatory T Cells is Increased in Patients with Psoriasis after Goeckerman Therapy

Kateřina Kondělková^a, Doris Vokurková^a, Jan Krejsek^a, Lenka Borská^b, Zdeněk Fiala^c, Květoslava Hamáková^d, Ctirad Andrýs^a

^aCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Hradec Králové, Czech Republic: Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology
^bCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Hradec Králové, Czech Republic: Department of Pathological Physiology
^cCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Hradec Králové, Czech Republic: Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine
^dCharles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Hradec Králové, Czech Republic: Department of Dermatology and Venerology

Received November 16, 2011
Accepted June 1, 2012

Regulatory T cells (Treg) are a specialized subpopulation of T cells that act to suppress inadequate immune response. Psoriasis is recognized as a T-cell driven immune-mediated systemic inflammatory disease with skin manifestation. Effective therapeutical approach to treat psoriasis is Goeckerman therapy (GT). The aim of this study was to compare the number of Treg in the peripheral blood of 27 psoriatic patients and 19 controls and to evaluate the influence of GT on Treg population in peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis. There was no significant difference in the relative number of Treg cells in the peripheral blood of healthy blood donors and patients with psoriasis before initiation of GT (P = 0.2668). In contrary, the relative number of Treg cells in peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis after GT was significantly higher than those found in healthy blood donors (P = 0.0019). Moreover, the relative number of Treg is significantly increased in psoriatic patients after Goeckerman therapy compared to the pre-treatment level (P = 0.0042). In conclusion, this significant increase in Treg count after GT is probably associated with amelioration of inflammation by GT, as disease activity expressed as PASI decreased in our patients by GT (P = 0.0001).