ABSTRACT
In order to correlate the immunomodulatory roles of homologous heat shock proteins with Mr 65 kD (HSP65) to skin diseases, antibody level to recombinant-HSP65 of Mycobacterium leprae was quantified with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the sera of patients. In psoriasis, an insignificant increase was observed in anti-HSP65 IgG (0.111 +/- 0.053, mean +/- SD in 0D492 nm, n = 22), compared with a normal group (0.080 +/- 0.032, n = 9). However, psoriasis of acute guttate-type (PGA), which is often induced after tonsillar infection, showed a significant increase (0.178 +/- 0.032 n = 4, p <0.001), but psoriasis vulgaris did not (PV) (0.101 +/- 0.053, n = 12), nor generalized psoriasis pustulosa (PP) (0.087 +/- 0.025, n = 6). Similarly, patients with palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) with tonsillar or periodontal infection showed significantly high anti-H5P65 IgG (0.230 +/- 0.065, n = 7, p <0.0001), compared with only a mild increase in PPP without suspected infectious foci (0.139 +/- 0.066, n = 13, p <0.05). Possible staphylococcal infection in the oral cavity was suggested by an additional ELISA assay to staphylococcal antigen: anti-staphylokinase IgG showed a significant increase in PPP with infectious foci (0.110 +/- 0.028 n = 3, p <0.01) compared with the normal group (0.039 +/- 0.014), while PPP without them showed only a mild change (0.060 +/- 0.017, n = 6, p <0.05). We assume that immunoreaction to H5P65 may be involved in psoriatic skin inflammation associated with focal infection.