Promoter region polymorphism of the CD14 gene (C-159T) is not associated with psoriasis vulgaris.

Keratinocytes of psoriatic skin show aberrant expression of membrane-bound CD14 (mCD14). In addition, soluble CD14 (sCD14) is elevated in the sera of psoriatic patients. The mechanisms leading to increased CD14 expression and secretion in psoriasis are poorly understood. A bi-allelic polymorphism in the promoter region of the CD14 gene controls CD14 expression on monocytes and sCD14 levels in the sera of healthy subjects. In this context, we explored the CD14 promoter region genotypes of 63 Finnish patients with psoriasis and 126 non-psoriatic controls using a new ARMS-PCR method. No differences in the CD14 genotype frequencies were found between the groups. Thus, our results suggest that the enhanced CD14 expression in psoriasis is not attributable to functional variants of CD14 (-159C/T).