Studies on fibronectin in the skin

Summary Affected and unaffected skin from patients with vulgar psoriasis and normal skin from a control group were investigated for the presence of fibronectin with an indirect immunofluorescence technique. In the control group, fibronectin is missing in the epidermis, but is found in the basement membrane zone of the dermo-epidermal junction area, in the papillary and the reticular dermis, and in the vascular and neural systems of the skin. The same distribution is also found in unaffected psoriatic skin, whereas in affected skin a change in the distribution of fibronectin is found in the dermis and in the basement membranes, together with the presence of fibronectin in the epidermis, mainly in the cornified layers.