Increased concentration of beta-endorphin in sera of patients with psoriasis and other inflammatory dermatoses

Increased concentration of beta-endorphin in sera of patients with psoriasis and other inflammatory dermatoses

Glinski W; Brodecka H; Glinska-Ferenz M; Kowalski D

The British Journal Of Dermatology

1994

Female; Humans; Male; Adult; Aged; Middle Aged; Acute Disease; adolescent; Comparative Study; beta-Endorphin/blood; Radioimmunoassay; Atopic/blood; Dermatitis; Psoriasis/blood; Scleroderma; Systemic/blood

Serum beta-endorphin was quantified by radioimmunoassay in 71 patients with psoriasis vulgaris, other chronic inflammatory skin diseases with T-cell infiltrates [atopic dermatitis (n = 25), and systemic sclerosis (n = 34)], and 100 healthy subjects. The neuropeptide was found to be markedly (P 60% body surface; 16.2 pg/ml), which lasted longer than 3 months (15.8 pg/ml), whereas neither the presence of stress nor itching correlated with the serum peptide concentration. Our data suggest that beta-endorphin is produced in psoriatic lesions by inflammatory cells, rather than the increased levels being the result of activation of the pituitary-adrenal axis by chronic stress. The generation of neuropeptide in psoriatic lesions and its antinociceptive effect on the peripheral sensory nerves might explain why pruritus is a relatively rare phenomenon in psoriasis.

1994

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