In contrast, other antimicrobial peptides expressed in psoriatic skin including elafin, hBD1, and psoriasin (S100A7) did not show similar activities. hBD2, hBD3, and lysozyme were detected in psoriatic skin lesions in the vicinity of pDCs and found to cooperate with LL37 to induce high levels of IFN production by pDCs, suggesting their concerted role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.
Skin lesions were analyzed for the gene and protein expression of human β-defensin (hBD)-1, -2, and -3; RNase-7; the cathelicidin LL-37; and psoriasin (S100A7) using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry.