Conclusion: Increased psoriasin in cholesteatoma epithelium may play a role in epithelial inflammatory response and differentiation.
Objectives: Cholesteatoma is characterized by excessive keratinocyte differentiation leading to inflammation, granulation tissue, and osteolytic activity. Moreover, psoriasin may act as an antimicrobial peptide, stimulate granulocytes, and control keratinocyte differentiation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential expression patterns and the localization of psoriasin in cholesteatoma and in normal external auditory canal skin.
Materials and methods: Expression levels of psoriasin mRNA were evaluated by real-time PCR and Western blotting. Cholesteatoma-affected and normal external auditory canal skin samples were immunostained with monoclonal antibody to psoriasin. Localization of immunoreactivity to psoriasin antibody was then compared.
Results: By real-time PCR, expression levels of psoriasin mRNA in cholesteatoma were significantly higher than in normal external auditory canal skin, and this was confirmed by Western blotting. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that psoriasin protein is mainly expressed in the granular layer and in the upper parts of the spinous layer in cholesteatoma epithelium, but that it is expressed in the superficial layer of normal external auditory canal skin.