In vivo mobilization of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in psoriasis: relationship to clinical parameters and serum inhibitory factors.

Mean migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) toward autologous and homologous control sera, evaluated by quantitative skin window chamber technique, was only slightly reduced in 60 patients with psoriasis as compared to 27 normal controls (p less than 0.1). A significant decrease in cell migration was found (1) in patients with actively spreading lesions, (2) in patients with extensive lesions involving more than 40-60% of the skin surface, (3) in the first 2 months of relapse, and (4) 5-6 months after onset of new lesions. However, PMNL migration was increased when psoriatic lesions lasted 3-4 months. Seventy-one percent of psoriatic sera exerted a suppressive effect on the psoriatic and normal PMNL migration. The inhibitors were found predominantly in patients with stationary and long-standing lesions. Some of the psoriatic sera had a stimulatory effect on the chemotaxis of psoriatic PMNL. These sera originated from those patients with active spreading lesions in the first 2 months of relapse. These data indicate that neutrophil migration is abnormal in the course of psoriasis and that it could be modified by different proportions of both inhibitors and stimulators of chemotaxis.