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.