الفهرس 
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Abstract
Summary
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease in which genetic and environmental factors play a significant role. The word “psoriasis” is derived from Greek word ‘psora’ which means ‘itch’. Psoriasis is a dry, non-contagious, inflammatory and ugly skin disease that can involve entire system of the patient. [1]
It is often inherited and in most cases characterized by sharply marginated scaly, erythematous plaques that develop in a relatively symmetrical distribution. The most commonly affected sites are the scalp, tips of fingers and toes, palms, soles, umbilicus, gluteus, under the breasts and genitals, elbows, knees, shins and sacrum. [2] This disease is chronic in nature with a tendency to relapse. In this disease, the skin keeps scaling as flakes called psoriatic plaques due to rapid and excessive multiplication of epidermis cells which look like fishy skin & finally peels off as exfoliation. [3]
The silvery-white plaques are caused by accelerated regeneration and accumulation of skin on sites of predilection due to rapid destruction process. Plaques may range in size from a few millimeters to a large part of the trunk or limb. Plaques frequently appear on skin of the elbows and knees, but can affect any area including the scalp and genitals. Fingernails and toenails are frequently affected (psoriatic nail dystrophy) and can be seen as an isolated finding. [3] Psoriasis can also cause inflammation of the joints, which is known as psoriatic arthritis. Psoriasis is linked to dandruff and unfortunately to some forms of arthritis. It is also believed that there is also a link between psoriasis and the HIV virus. Psoriasis is one of the most maltreated diseases from olden days, which continues now with the search of a good remedy. [4]
MicroRNAs (miRNAs, miR) are single stranded non-coding RNA molecules that are small; composed of about 22 nucleotides. The miRNAs play vital roles in gene expression at different levels as transcriptional and post-transcriptional.[105] MiRNAs act through base-pairing with the complementary sequences in the messenger RNAs (mRNAs) making these mRNAs unable to be translated into proteins. [106]
Expression of miRNAs has been implicated in numerous disease states, and miRNA-based therapies are under investigation. [108]
miRNA-203 has been reported to be dysregulated in patients with psoriasis. [164] The first skin-specific miRNA identified, miRNA-203, is made almost exclusively by keratinocytes and regulates cell differentiation in a protein kinase C dependent manner. [165]
Increased miR-203 in psoriatic tissue strongly correlates with a decrease in suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) and subsequent elevation in signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3), a transcription factor in keratinocytes that is fundamental to the development of psoriatic skin lesions. [165]
The aim of this work was to detect the expression of microRNA-203 in psoriatic skin of diseased patients as compared to normal control persons to investigate the possible role of microRNA-203 in the pathogenesis of this disease.
60 subjects were enrolled in this study and divided as follows:
group I: (n = 30) chronic plaque psoriasis who had not received psoriasis treatment for at least three months before biopsy.
group II: (n = 30) healthy controls with no family history of psoriasis.
All groups were subjected to
Full history taking including history of precipitating factors.
Thorough clinical examination (Type and Severity of Psoriasis).
Quantitation of skin level of miRNA-203 using qRT-PCR
Results revealed that:
There was a statistically significant difference regarding miRNA-203 expression between the compared groups of the study.
Regarding the expression of miRNA-203, it was significantly higher in cases group rather than in the control one (p < 0.001).
For subgroup analysis among psoriasis group according to sex: there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.634) in miRNA-203 expression between males and females.
For subgroup analysis among psoriasis group according to disease course: there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.688) in miRNA-203 expression between patients with stationary course, regressive course, remission and exacerbation course, and progressive course.
Also, there was no significant difference (p = 0.066) in miRNA-203 expression between patients who had positive family history and those who had negative family history.
As regards clinical data, the mean age of psoriasis cases was 41.86 years, female to male ratio was 1:2, the onset was gradual in most cases, remission and exacerbation course predominated, the mean duration of the disease was 114 months, the average of PASI score was 6.99, most cases had negative family history of the disease. Several precipitating factors were recorded including; cold, stress, sun exposure, smoking, and infection.
In conclusion, miRNA-203 may play a role in pathogenesis of psoriasis; hence, it can be used as a biomarker to evaluate their progression and effect of therapeutic interventions.