Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) represses the glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) mRNA expression and may be a potential therapeutic agent in psoriasis: a case-control and experimental study.

We investigated the whole blood GLUT1 mRNA expression and serum pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), fetuin-A, and pentraxin-3 (PTX3) levels in psoriatic patients and tested their correlations with the severity of psoriasis using the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score. Also, we tested the GLUT1 mRNA expression after an in vitro treatment of human skin fibroblast (HSF) cell lines with PEDF. The case-control part of the study recruited 74 participants (44 psoriatic patients and 30 healthy volunteers).