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Surfactant proteins (SP) have recently been reported to be expressed in human skin tissue. SP is thought to play an essential role in the firstline defense of skin. In this study, we aimed to investigate if the SP may play a role in inflammatory skin diseases. Seven volunteers with psoriasis (n = 3), atopic dermatitis (n = 2), lichen planus (n = 1) and Behcet’s disease (n = 1) participated in the study. Biopsies from each lesion and adjacent (approximately 2 cm distant) normal-appearing skin in patients were performed. Expression and localization of the SP-A, -B, -C, and -D in fresh tissues were studied by an immunohistochemical technique. In all patients, there was a weak cytoplasmic staining with SP-A and SP-D and nuclear staining with SP-B and SP-C in the epidermis of normal-appearing skin samples. However, epidermal staining with SP was observed to be stronger in all lesional samples. In addition, there was a prominent staining in inflammatory cells infiltrating dermis. This expression represents a previously unknown immunologic response in the inflammatory skin diseases and may represent an important step in the pathogenesis of these disorders.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Professor David Phelps, (University of Pennsylvania), for the monoclonal SP-A antibody and its blocking peptide, Professor Timoty E Weaver (division of Pulmonary Biology, Cinninnati Children’s Hospital, USA) for the SP-B and SP-C antibodies and their peptides, Professors Yoshio Kuroki and Hitomi Sano (Sapporo Medical University, Japan) for their SP-A and SP-D antibodies and peptides and Professor Uffe Holmskov (Syddansk University, Denmark) for the SP-D antibody and peptides.
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The study is supported by Akdeniz University Scientific Research Projects Unit. The study was approved by the local ethics committee.
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Akman, A., Kankavi, O., Ciftcioglu, M.A. et al. Surfactant proteins in inflammatory skin diseases: controlled study. Arch Dermatol Res 300, 353–356 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-008-0846-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-008-0846-1