Unscheduled DNA synthesis in psoriatic skin after ultraviolet irradiation and the effects of a combined treatment with 8-methoxypsoralen and longwave ultraviolet radiation: a clinical study.

Biopsies were taken from psoriatic patients undergoing photochemotherapy and then studied by autoradiography to investigate possible unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) following 8-MOP photodamage in epidermal cels. No sparse labelling was found in seventy samples taken from twenty-four different patients during PUVA therapy, indicating a lack of UDS. In contrast, UDS was observed in three patients irradiated with an all-spectrum UV lamp, as a test for DNA damage and excision repair activity. The incorporation of 3HTdR in these keratinocytes which were not undergoing S-phase was not affected by the dose of UV-A received during different stages of PUVA treatment. The results are discussed in terms of repair of the induced photodamage at the level of DNA, and in relation to a possible risk of this treatment when it is given over a long period of time.