The transcapillary escape rate of albumin (TERalb), i.e., the fraction of intravascular albumin mass passing to the extravascular space per unit time, is a parameter of the leakage of macromolecules from the total microvasculature. In patients with psoriasis short-term PUVA treatment induces an increase in TERalb. In this study TERalb was measured in 3 groups of normal humans treated with PUVA,...

OBJECTIVE To compare the conventional psoralen-ultraviolet A treatment with psoralen-ultraviolet B therapy in the treatment of psoriasis. METHODOLOGY We studied 50 patients of plaque type psoriasis who were selected to receive either conventional psoralen-ultraviolet A or psoralen-ultraviolet B treatment. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the two treatment groups in the nu...

Fifty-two patients with severe and resistant psoriasis were treated with 8-methoxypsoralen followed by high intensity long wave ultraviolet light over a 12-month period at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. One hundred per cent clearing of the plaques of psoriasis was obtained with an average dose of energy of 53.5 joules in 43 (96 per cent) of 45 patients and the other two materially improv...

To elucidate the molecular action of 8-methoxypsoralen plus UVA (PUVA), a standard dermatological therapy, we used K5.hTGF-beta1 transgenic mice exhibiting a skin phenotype and cytokine abnormalities with strong similarities to human psoriasis. We observed that impaired function of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) and increased cytokine levels of the IL-23/Th17 pathway were responsible for ...

BACKGROUND Photochemotherapy with 8-methoxypsoralen and long-wavelength UV-A (PUVA) has been extensively used for the treatment of various skin diseases since its approval in 1982 by the US Food and Drug Administration. METHODS A retrospective study was performed of patients treated with PUVA, including topical and systemic treatment, over a period of 14 years. All patients were treated using...

We investigated the effect of the potentially carcinogenic psoralen plus UVA radiation (PUVA) therapy on the expression of p53 in skin of psoriatic patients. p53 antibodies DO7 and Pab240, antibodies against PCNA and Ki67 and the avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase complex method were used in the immunohistochemical staining of biopsy samples from non-lesional and lesional skin of 23 patients who re...

Although oxygen dependent photoreactions of 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) are known, damage to DNA is mostly considered to proceed via photocycloaddition to this biomacromolecule. In this study the survival of colony forming ability of E. coli K12/343, which is deficient in DNA-repair capability, appeared to be lower in D2O than in H2O after exposure to the combination of 8-MOP and UV-A. Photobindi...

The synthesis of five new psoralen derivatives is described. Three of these, 4'-hydroxymethyl-4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen, 4'-methoxymethyl-4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen, and 4'-aminomethyl-4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen hydrochloride, and characterized with respect to their photoreactivity with DNA and RNA. They are found to be greatly superior to 4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen and 8-methoxypsoralen, the two comm...