Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effects of retinoic acid on immunity and inflammation in patients with Psoriasis vulgaris

Yi Liu¹, Min Li², Zhangjun Ding³

¹Department of Dermatological, Nanxishan Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guilin City, Guangxi, China; ²Department of Dermatology, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China; ³Department of Dermatological, Dongtai People's Hospital, Dongtai, China.

For correspondence:- Zhangjun Ding Email: gbjid@qq.com Tel:+8618962096677

Accepted: 29 June 2023 Published: 31 July 2023

Citation: Liu Y, Li M, Ding Z. Effects of retinoic acid on immunity and inflammation in patients with Psoriasis vulgaris. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(7):1469-1474 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i7.16

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of retinoic acid on immune and inflammatory factors in patients with psoriasis vulgaris, and its underlying mechanism of action.

Methods: A total of 20 P. vulgaris (PV) patients from Dongtai People's Hospital were divided into two groups, with 10 patients receiving retinoic acid and 10 receiving calcipotriol. The patients' clinical parameters, psoriasis area and severity index were evaluated after one month of treatment. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the concentrations of interleukin-10 and interleukin-17 in the patients' peripheral blood, while the proportion of T helper immune cells that expressed IL-17a and regulatory T immune cells were determined via flow sorting. expressions of Notch1 in psoriatic lesions and CD4+T cells were determined by quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

Results: Retinoic acid significantly reduced psoriasis area and severity index. Furthermore, retinoic acid decreased the concentration of IL-17, increased the concentration of IL-10, lowered the percentage of Th17 cells, but elevated the percentage of Treg immune cells (p < 0.05). expression of Notch1 in skin lesions and CD4+T cells was lower in the retinoic acid group than in the calcipotriol group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: expression of Notch1 is decreased in skin tissue lesions of PV patients receiving oral retinoic acid treatment. Thus, retinoic acid influences Th17/Treg immune balance by regulating Notch1 signaling pathway in PV patients, and therefore can potentially be developed for the treatment of psoriasis.

Keywords: Psoriasis, Notch1 pathway, Psoriasis area, Severity index, Symptom score reduction index (SSRI)