Determination of zinc, copper, manganese, and iron in blood from patients with light-sensitive skin diseases.

It is known that some trace elements have an influence on the repair of UV light induced DNA damage. We have detected certain alterations in the excision repair of patients with photodermatoses. In these investigations of screening character the levels of zinc, copper, manganese, and iron were measured by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry in the whole blood of 31 patients with polymorphic light eruption and 27 patients with cutaneous porphyrias.

A study on cell-mediated immunity in polymorphic light eruption.

Polymorphic light eruption (PLE) can be defined as a delayed abnormal response to sunlight. In this paper some features of the presumable immune response were studied in 55 patients with PLE and the results were compared with the findings available in 58 cases with porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT). The mean intracutaneous reactivity index measured by skin tests of delayed type was normal in both diseases.

Effect of chloroquine on DNA synthesis in the skin of DLE patients.

Changes in the semiconservative and excision repair DNA synthesis were studied autoradiographically in the skin of 12 patients with discoid lupus erythematosus during Chloroquine treatment (500 mg/day for 8 weeks). The originally increased rate of the semiconservative DNA synthesis in the area of the skin lesions returned to the normal level simultaneous with clinical improvement. No effect on the excision reapir DNA synthesis could be detected.