Polyamine metabolism changes in psoriasis.

Introduction: Polyamines - putrescine, spermidine and spermine are polycationic compounds ubiquitous for all living organisms. They are essential for the cell growth and differentiation, the control of cell cycle progress, apoptosis, and cancerogenesis. Accumulated scientific evidence suggests the central role of polyamines in the process of keratinocytic proliferation, differentiation, and regulation.

Objective: To elucidate the polyamine metabolic changes that occur in benign keratinocytic proliferation. Fifty eight patients were enrolled in the study, 31 with plaque-form of psoriasis vulgaris, which had been referred to as a model of benign keratinocytic proliferation, and 27-healthy controls.

Materials And Methods: An original, innovative chromatographic method was used to detect the levels of putrescine, spermidine, and spermine in all skin samples.

Results: Were significantly proven (P < 0.05). No difference was found between the polyamines levels of non-lesional psoriatic skin and healthy controls. Psoriatic lesions showed a two-time higher concentration of all polyamines in lesional, compared to non-lesional skin. Spermine had the highest concentration and highest proliferation trend, which demonstrated the importance of propylamine synthesis in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Spermine highest concentrations suggested the leading role of adenosine methionine decarboxylase (AMDC) in the pathogenesis of benign keratinocytic proliferations.

Conclusions: Non-lesional skin in psoriatic patients did not show latent changes in polyamine metabolism. Psoriatic lesions demontrated two-time higher levels of the most essential biogenic polyamines compared to healthy controls. The highest level of spermine proved the crucial role of AMDC in the polyamine metabolism changes in psoriasis. Future therapeutic approaches should be focused on reduction of exogenic spermine intake, utilizing new spermine blockers, and synthesis of AMDC inhibitors.