Immunohistochemical Expression of GLUT-1 and Ki-67 in Chronic Plaque Psoriasis

Abstract

Many inflammatory mediators and other biological markers are upregulated in psoriatic lesions; some of these alterations also persist in nonlesional skin. Glucose is the major source of energy for cells, and glucose transporter 1 is the most common glucose transporter in humans (GLUT-1). The present study aimed at evaluating the pattern of expression of GLUT-1 and Ki-67 in psoriatic skin (involved and uninvolved) and correlating their expression with the clinicopathological parameters in the studied patients. This study was carried out on 30 patients presented with chronic plaque psoriasis and 10 apparently healthy volunteers as a control group. GLUT-1 was not expressed in epidermis of normal skin, whereas it was expressed in 76.6% of uninvolved and 86.7% of involved skin of psoriatic patients, where both the latter differed significantly regarding the intensity (P = 0.001) and localization (P = 0.001) of GLUT-1 expression. The percentage of Ki-67 expression did not differ significantly between involved and uninvolved skin of psoriatic patients, but they were higher than that of normal skin of control group. Nucleolar pattern of Ki-67 expression was significantly associated with male sex (P = 0.05), marked parakeratosis (P = 0.01), and marked angiogenesis (P = 0.05). GLUT-1 expression was associated with degree of acanthosis and percentage of Ki-67 expression. From this study, GLUT-1 is upregulated in psoriatic epidermis and may be involved in facilitation of keratinocyte proliferation in psoriasis. Nucleolar pattern of Ki-67 is an indicator of progressive keratinocyte proliferation in psoriasis.

Glucose transporter‐1 (GLUT‐1) expression in psoriasis: correlation with disease severity

“…The present study detected statistically significant positive correlation between GLUT‐1 expression in psoriasis lesions and the mean of epidermal thickness, which is an indicator of epidermal hyperproliferation. This finding was in agreement with the results of Abdou et al . and Tochio et al .…”

“…These results add further support to previous studies done by Tao et al . and Abdou et al . who suggested that the upregulation of GLUT‐1 in psoriasis lesions could participate in the pathogenesis of psoriasis through the facilitation of glucose transport, which is required to satisfy the needs of rapid hyperproliferative keratinocytes.…”

“… Hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) stain for the confirmation of the clinical diagnosis and then; Semiquantitative grading of parakeratosis using a three‐graded score: grade 1: mild, grade 2: moderate, and grade 3: severe Quantitative morphometric studies were performed by using the computerized digital image analysis software (LICA DFC290 HD; Leica Microsystems Wetzlar, Germany) for the measurement of the following: ᴼEpidermal thickness (from the bottom of the rete ridge to the bottom of the stratum corneum) by using a calibrated ruler, and the mean was calculated from the measurement of four fields at magnification ×100. ᴼInflammatory cell density: After the identification of the area of maximum density of inflammatory cells at low magnification (×100), inflammatory cells were counted in four fields at magnification ×400.…”

“…The primary antibodies were incubated overnight at room temperature, and the secondary antibody was then applied with diaminobenzidine as a chromogen substrate and Mayer hematoxylin as a counterstain. All slides were evaluated at the same magnification as follows: Staining pattern : For each specimen, four separate fields of view were analyzed in the epidermal cell layers. The expression of GLUT‐1 is considered positive if brownish staining was detected as cytoplasmic or membranous pattern. Score of intensity of GLUT‐1 expression : Quantitative evaluation of the immunostained slides was performed, and the number of positive keratinocytes was expressed as the percentage of the total number of keratinocytes from 0 to +3 as follows: 0 (negative expression) = no staining, +1 (mild expression) <25%, +2 (moderate expression) = 25–50%, and +3 (strong expression) >50%.…”

GLUT-1 Expression in Cutaneous Basal and Squamous Cell Carcinomas

“…16 This overexpression of GLUT-1 in cutaneous SCC and other malignancies may govern mechanisms that favor tumor growth at the expense of host tissues. 17 It is unknown whether elevated GLUT-1 expression accurately reflects the hypoxic state of the tumor or whether elevated GLUT-1 levels are an indication of the altered metabolic state of tumor cells.…”