Immuno-Electrophoretic Analysis of Serum Proteins in Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

Abstract

Summary Immuno-electrophoretic analysis was carried out on 33 sera of patients with psoriasis and 11 sera of patients with active psoriatic arthritis. An increase in β-2-A, β-2-macroglobulin and in γ-globulin was the predominant feature in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. This seems to be related to non-specific immunological reactions. The increase in β-2-A globulin was observed in 64 per cent of psoriatic arthritis patients, which is remarkable, since the β-2-A globulin fraction includes reagins. In the psoriasis group only 33 per cent showed increased values. The increase in β-2-macroglobulin seen in about 30 per cent in both groups was less frequent than reported in rheumatoid arthritis cases, in which an increase is seen in about 80 per cent. This difference between psoriatic and rheumatoid arthritis might contribute to a distinction between the diseases. An inactivation of β-1-C was found in 27 per cent in both groups. This phenomenon is probably also related to an immunological process. An increase in α-2-macroglobulin, α-2-haptoglobin and α-2-lipoprotein was found in many sera of both groups.