Transcriptome analysis of Psoriasis

Newly diagnosed psoriatic patients were recruited into this study (total 12 patients. Initially 16 patients were enrolled but only 12 of these patients had complied IRB protocol). These patients were all treated with glucocorticoid (GC) for 2 months and then stopped treatment. Among these patients, patients #2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 were considered as effective response to treatment. However, all these patients recurred. In addition, patients #6 and 12 developed more severed disease than pre-treatment. For patient #3, treatment had effect but this patient did not have recurrence. For patients 5, 8, 15, and 16, these patients did not respond to treatment. Thus disease persisted. The purpose of this study is to determine the molecular signatures which can differentiate patients who responded to treatment from those who did not. Secondly we want to understand why some patients developed even more severe disease. The study samples are from 12 of 16 patients with IRB compliance. The samples consist of pre-treatment, post-treatment, and recurrent for each patient, resulting in a total of 36 samples (12 patients x 3 conditions). Seven patients (2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12) all had effective response to treatment with recurrence. Of these, two (6 and 12) developed more severe disease than pre-treatment. One patient (3) had no recurrence, and four (5, 8, 15 and 16) did not respond to treatment.