| Research Abstract |
Chronic and latent infectious focus in a distant part of the body may trigger diverse inflammatory disorders in the skin. It has been interpreted as "focal infection" without explainion of the precise mechanism. We noticed that this process includes various interesting subjects, that lead us to the present projict. Immunogenetically well-conserved stress proteins or heat shock proteins (HSPs), are considered to be induced in both parasitic microorganisms and infected host humans.This may result in host-defense to bacteria and, on the other hand, occasional induction of immunomodulation, since bacterial HSPs are highly immunogenic and targetted by immune surveilance of hosts, while mammalian HSPs indued after infectious stress are able to be recognized by the same immune mechanism of the host. We have investigated antibody level to mycobacterial HSP65 with ELISA technique in various inflammatory skin dieases in order to correlate this with so-called "focal infection". In comparison to n
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ormal group, patients with palmoplanter pustulosis, psoriasis, urticaria, and herpes zoster showed elevated IgG antibody level to HSP65 from Mycobacterium leprae. Among patients with psoriasis acute guttate psoriasis showed significant increase in anti-HSP65 IgG,while psoriasis vulgaris and psoriasis pustulosa showed no significant increase. Among patients with palmoplantar pustulosis, patients with infectious focus showed significant increase in anti-HSP65 IgG,compared to those without it.
We further investigated antibody level to staphylokinase, that is antigenic and fibrinolytic protein produced and secreted by infectious Staphylococcus aureus, in patients with the skin disorders. We found that anti-staphylokinase is a useful indicator of staphylococcal infection, and an independent parameter from ASLO and ASK,that are indicators of streptococcal infection.Patients with psoriasis and palmoplantar pustulosis associated with infectious foci showed significant increase in anti-staphylokinase IgG.
Recently we immunohistochemically investigated dermal dendritic cells with markers such as Factor XIIIa, Thrombomodulin, and CD34. Each marker showed unique cell population and distribute in the inflamed skin tissue. Biological significance of those dendritic cells in relation to mononuclear phagocytes are now under investigation. Less
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