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Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of autophagy-related protein 7 (Atg7) in psoriasis. Background Despite psoriasis being a common skin disorder, the exact pathogenic mechanism of psoriasis is still not fully understood. Abnormal autophagy is now established to be associated with pathogenesis of some skin disorders. Atg7 plays a central role in the machinery of the autophagy. Materials and methods This prospective case-control study included 30 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis, either lesional or perilesional, and 20 age-matched and sex-matched apparently normal participants as a control group. All cases were immunohistochemically stained for Atg7 antibody. Results There was a significant difference among the three studied groups regarding epidermal topographic distribution of Atg7 (P < 0.001). Nucleocytoplasmic topographic localization was dominant in psoriatic skin, either lesional or perilesional, in comparison with 15.8% of normal skin. Regarding dermal Atg7 expression, there were significant differences between the studied three groups regarding all parameters of immunohistochemically of Atg7 such as status (P = 0.006), topography, percentage, and intensity (P < 0.001 for all). Conclusion Nucleocytoplasmic expression of Atg7 in psoriatic skin could be incriminated in pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Subject Area

Radiology and Imaging Sciences

Article Type

Original Study

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