Introduction: Psoriasis is a chronic, immunologic, multi-factor inflammatory skin disease, strongly associated with a higher level of a number of cytokines, such as isoforms of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β1-3) and its receptors (TGF-βRI-III). One of the most popular and important drugs used to treat this disease is cyclosporin A (CsA).
Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of genes encoding the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β isoforms and receptors of the cytokine TGF-βRs in psoriatic patients during an 84-day long observation of the effects of cyclosporin A therapy. It made an attempt to determine the usefulness of testing mRNA expression of TGF-β1-3 and its receptors TGF-βRI-III as the supplementary molecular markers of lost sensitivity to the medicine.
Material and methods: The study group consisted of 32 patients with psoriasis (20 men and 12 women) treated with cyclosporin A. The changes in expression patterns of TGF-β1-3 and TGF-βRI-III were performed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RTqPCR).
Results: The expression of TGF-β1-3 and TGF-βRI-III were detected in the whole period of therapy with CsA. Changes in transcriptional activities of TGF-β1-3 and TGF-βRI-III during pharmacotherapy were observed. Differences in the expression of these genes were found before and after 42 and 84 days of using CsA.
Conclusions: The changes in expression profiles of TGF-β1-3 and TGF-βRI-III during CsA therapy can be a useful molecular marker of lost sensitivity to the medicine.
Keywords: cyclosporin A; mRNA; psoriasis; transforming growth factor β1–3.