Calmodulin activities are significantly increased in both uninvolved and involved epidermis in psoriasis.

In order to elucidate a part of calmodulin actions in the hyperproliferative state in human epidermis, calmodulin activities in the psoriatic and in the normal human epidermis were determined using calmodulin-deficient phosphodiesterase from bovine heart and purified pig skin epidermal calmodulin as a standard. Skin samples were obtained from 11 normal healthy controls and from both the uninvolved and involved regions of 8 nonconsanguineous psoriatic patients. Pure epidermal samples, prepared by the microdissection method, were used for calmodulin assays. Normal human epidermis contained 270 +/- 13 ng/mg dry weight, whereas calmodulin activities were significantly increased in psoriatic epidermis, 412 +/- 29 ng/mg dry weight for the uninvolved epidermis and 747 +/- 46 ng/mg dry weight for the involved epidermis, respectively. These results suggest that calmodulin may play an important role in cell proliferation in human epidermis.