TENASCIN-C IS NOT A USEFUL MARKER FOR DISEASE-ACTIVITY IN PSORIASIS

Tenascin-C is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein that is markedly up regulated in the dermis of psoriatic skin. In this study, we have addr essed the question whether the presence of tenascin-C in the lesion or in serum is a marker for disease activity. Immunohistochemical staini ng of tenascin-C before and after treatment with different topical and systemic medication showed that tenascin-C remained abundant after cl inical remission of lesions, indicating that downregulation of tenasci n-C to normal values is a slow process. By using a sensitive enzyme-li nked immunosorbent assay to measure levels of serum tenascin-C in psor iatic patients and unaffected individuals, we found that tenascin-C le vels in most patients were within the normal range. Moreover, tenascin -C values did not correlate with disease activity. We conclude that te nascin-C is not useful as a marker for disease activity in psoriasis.