Immunological studies of psoriatic arthritis

Zipperlen, Katrin (2008) Immunological studies of psoriatic arthritis. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (5MB)

Abstract

Since little is known about the contribution of B cells to the pathology of psoriatic arthritis (PsA), this study investigated the possible recruitment of peripheral blood B cells to sites of inflammation by differential expression of chemokine receptors CXCR3, CXCR4, CXCR5, CCR1, CCR2, CCR5 and CCR6. Secondly, we explored the role of B cell activating factor (BAFF) in PsA. The chemokine receptor expression analysis did not reveal any significant differences (p-values >0.05 for all receptors) both at the RNA and the protein level when comparing PsA patients (n = 13) to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 10). Also, there was no significant difference (p = 0.1291) in plasma BAFF levels between PsA (n = 37) or RA patients (n = 24) and healthy controls (n = 35). Our study does not provide supporting evidence of B cell involvement in PsA, however it was limited to the analysis of peripheral blood.

Actions (login required)

View Item