Down-regulation of tissue levels of serine protease inhibitor (vaspin) in psoriasis vulgaris patients: a possible mechanism of narrowband ultraviolet B radiation.

Vaspin is a serine protease inhibitor of the serpin family which has an anti-inflammatory effect. It has an important role in the pathogenesis of some inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis. There are no previous studies comparing the effect of narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) radiation on tissue vaspin levels in psoriasis. So we aimed in this case-control study to estimate the possible role of vaspin in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, and to evaluate the effect of NB-UVB radiation on tissue vaspin in psoriasis. This study included 21 non-obese patients with moderate psoriasis and 20 non-obese clinically healthy age and sex matched controls. Patients underwent 24 sessions of NB-UVB radiation. A 4 mm punch skin biopsy was taken from all patients before and after treatment and from the controls for estimation of tissue vaspin level by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Vaspin levels was significantly lower in patients before NB-UVB (99.72 pg/mg ± 12.11 pg/mg) compared to controls (257.34 pg/mg ± 28.11 pg/mg) with (P < 0.001). In addition, high significant difference was detected between vaspin levels in patients before (99.72 pg/mg ± 12.39 pg/mg) and after NB-UVB (190.92 pg/mg ± 27.61 pg/mg) with (P < 0.001). In conclusion, improvement of psoriatic plaques by NB-UVB is associated with an upregulation of tissue vaspin levels. Therefore, we suggest that vaspin has an important role in psoriasis pathogenesis.