Abstract
Psoriasis is a hyperproliferative inflammatory disease that is considered to be involved with both gene and environmental factors, such as stress. Serotonin plays an important role related to stress, and thus, can be a candidate for relieving disease symptoms. We investigated the expression of the serotonin gene receptor of the 5-HT3AR subtype on mononuclear blood cells in psoriatic patients as compared to healthy individuals. We isolated Peripheral Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) from blood samples followed by total cellular RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, and real-time PCR using primer pairs specific for 5-HT3AR mRNA and beta-actin mRNA as an internal control. Finally RT-PCR products were sequenced. Results showed that the expression of 5-HT3AR was significantly reduced (P<0.001) in patients compared to the healthy individuals group. However, there were no related nucleotide changes in the sequencing analysis of gene coding region. Our results raise the possibility of using 5-HT3A receptor specific drugs in the treatment of psoriasis.