Cross-sectional study reveals that HLA-C*07:02 is a potential biomarker of early onset/lesion severity of psoriasis

Psoriasis is a common chronic autoimmune skin disease, with T cells playing a predominant role in its pathogenesis. Here, we aimed to investigate the relation of T-cell repertoires (TCR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in psoriatic patients to further understand mechanisms in disease pathogenesis. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving nine pairs of monozygotic twins with inconsistent psoriasis and examined the TCR diversity and MHC haplotype of the individuals using multiple-PCR and high-throughput sequencing. Additionally, 665 psoriatic patients were applied to validate the relation of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class I allele HLA-C*07:02 and early onset or lesion severity of psoriasis. The immune diversity was lower in psoriatic patients compared with unaffected individuals within the twin pairs, although the difference was not significant. The clonotypes of TCR significantly decreased in psoriatic patients with high PASI score and early onset. HLA-C*07:02, a haplotype associated with psoriasis, was positively correlated with the diversity of the TCRV gene. Moreover, HLA-C*07:02 clustered in patients with high PASI and early onset. In the replication stage, we found that the PASI and onset age in psoriasis with HLA-C*07:02 were significantly different from those without HLA-C*07:02 and without HLA-C*06:02. Our observations indicate that HLA-C*07:02 is positively correlated with the diversity of TCRV gene in psoriasis and maybe a potential biomarker of early onset/severe lesions of psoriasis.