Concentrations of metalloproteinase-1 in patients with morphea treated with phototherapy: a preliminary study

Introduction
Morphea (localized scleroderma) is a rare, chronic, inflammatory connective tissue disease, charac­terized by immune system dysfunction, vasculopathy and skin fibrosis. One of the most effective treatments is phototherapy. Phototherapy has been found to be effective in treating localized scleroderma by inducing the expres­sion of metalloproteinase-1.

Aim
To compare the concentrations of metalloproteinase (MMP-1) before psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) and ultraviolet A1 (UVA1) treatments in the serum of patients with morphea.

Material and methods
The observational study was conducted in one research centre and included patients with generalised morphea who were treated with PUVA and UVA1 phototherapies. The mean age of all morphea patients included in the study was 55.7 years. The levels of MMP-1 were examined by ELISA (The Biorbyt Human MMP-1 ELISA – Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay).

Results
The study showed that patients treated with PUVA and UVA1 had an improvement based on clinical measures, resulting in a reduction of clinical score. However, we did not observe statistically significant differences in MMP-1 concentrations before and after treatment. Limitations: The study sample was relatively small. Further studies on a larger group of patients would be beneficial.

Conclusions
Our data suggest that there is a possible correlation between MMP-1 concentrations and photothe­rapy. MMP-1 levels were found to be increased following phototherapy treatment, which may suggest a correlation with better response to treatment in patients with morphea. However, further research is needed.