Human β-defensin-2 and psoriasin, two new innate immunity targets of zinc gluconate

Abstract

Background: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a large family of peptides implicated in innate immunity, especially in the epidermis. Zinc gluconate has been proven to be efficient to treat inflammatory dermatoses, such as acne vulgaris.

Objectives: The aim of our work was to determine whether AMPs could be new targets of zinc gluconate treatment in inflammatory dermatoses.

Material and methods: To test this hypothesis, we used an ex vivo lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory skin explant model, with or without zinc gluconate pretreatment. We evaluated human β-defensin-2 (hBD-2), human β-defensin-4 (hBD-4) and psoriasin protein expression and release by immunohistochemistry and ELISA, as well as the mRNA expression level by quantitative PCR.

Results: We found that hBD-2 and psoriasin mRNA expression levels and hBD-2 extracellular release, but not hBD-4 expression and release, were significantly upregulated by zinc gluconate in LPS-stimulated inflammatory skin explants.

Conclusion: These results suggest that hBD-2 and psoriasin may be two main targets of zinc gluconate, involved in its anti-inflammatory activity in dermatoses.