Contents of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory cell subpopulations and circulating cytokine levels in psoriasis in children

Abstract

In psoriasis, memory T cells form in the immune system and contribute to the development of disease recurrence. In the presence of secondary antigen exposure, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory cells begin to proliferate intensively and develop a more sustained and stronger immune response. There is an imbalance of cytokines in the immunopathogenesis of psoriasis. The aim was to study the content of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory cell subpopulations in peripheral blood and circulating cytokines in children with psoriasis. Materials and methods — 114 children with vulgar psoriasis on different pathogenetic therapies between 5 and 18 years of age were examined. The results were obtained by flow cytofluorimetry and multiplex analysis using xMAP technology. Analysis of the data obtained was performed using Statistica 10.0. Results. We found that the content of naïve and central memory T-cells was significantly higher than similar CD8+ memory cells, and the number of effector CD8⁺ cells was significantly higher than CD4⁺ in children with psoriasis (p<0.05). The dependence of memory cells on the age and duration of the disease was found to be significant. The number of effector and terminally differentiated memory cells was shown to depend on the type of therapy. Elevated serum levels of IL-12p70, IL-22, IL-28A, GM-CSF, IL-13, IL-4, IL-23, IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-27, TNFα and their association with memory cell count, and psoriasis severity according to PASI were found. Conclusion. The study of immunological memory will allow a more detailed understanding of the immunopathogenesis of psoriasis, finding new effective treatments and improving patients’ quality of life.