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Blood glutathione-peroxidase (GSH-Px) was determined in 61 healthy subjects and 506 patients with various skin disorders. Depressed levels were observed in patients with psoriasis, eczema, atopic dermatitis, vasculitis, mycosis fungoides and dermatitis herpetiformis. Low values of GSH-Px were also found in some patients with pemphigoid, acne conglobata, polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and systemic lupus erythematodes. Vegetarian diet, malnutrition and alcohol abuse could possibly account for the low values in some patients. Fifty patients with low GSH-Px levels were treated with tablets containing 0.2 mg selenium as Na2SeO3 and 10 mg tocopheryl succinate. The GSH-Px levels increased slowly within 6-8 weeks of treatment. The clinical effect was encouraging and calls for controlled studies.

A eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine in a water emulsion cream base produces effective superficial dermal analgesia when applied under occlusive dressing for 60 minutes. On the genitals, lips and oral mucosa, the application time can be reduced. The cream was found to be an effective alternative to conventional infiltration anesthesia for dermabrasion and superficial surgical procedures. It is especially useful in children for the removal of molluscum contagiosum and prior to venepuncture. The preparation is also an effective pain reliever when used on certain ulcerations.

Monoclonal antibodies were produced by immunizing mice with dispersed epidermal cells from a psoriatic plaque. We obtained 128 growing hybridoma clones. The immunohistochemical reactivity of the antibodies produced by these hybridomas was primarily screened on sections of skin biopsies from psoriatic plaques. Supernatants with positive staining were then tested on other dermatoses and human organs. Six supernatants stained infiltrating dermal cells and the whole epidermis in psoriatic lesions, but showed no reaction with sections from normal skin, ichthyosis, or acutely inflamed skin. With these antibodies, positive staining was also seen in some areas of the normal-appearing skin of patients with increasingly active psoriasis as well as after treatment in recently clinically healed lesions. A different and more heterogenous staining of epidermis with no or fewer infiltrating cells was seen in longstanding inflammatory disorders such as chronic eczema, neurodermatitis, lichen planus, discoid lupus erythematosus and mycosis fungoides. Scattered staining with these antibodies was in addition seen on infiltrating macrophage-like cells present also in other organs than skin and in some of the organs also other types of cells were stained, such as neck mucosal cells of the stomach, parts of duodenal mucosal cells, certain secretory cells in parotid gland, lung bronchiole and Hassall's bodies on the thymus. The cross-reactivity of antibodies to psoriatic lesions with other organs is of interest, since psoriasis might involve various tissues. Our findings support the idea that there exist unique cell surface antigens in psoriatic skin which might help elicit an immune reaction and/or be targets for such local immune reactions.

The clinical and laboratory findings in a patient constantly lacking eosinophil and basophil leucocytes in bone-marrow, blood, expectorates, and skin exudate are reported. He had repeated infections, asthma, haemolytic anaemia, vasomotor rhinitis, alopecia totalis, widespread scabies, and an extensive growth of warts. His IgA and IgE are low and this may account for some of the clinical features. When his plasma and serum were added in vitro the buffy coat of blood from other subjects, degranulation of eosinophils was seen within two hours. An immunological destruction of eosinophils and basophils is the most plausible explanation for their absence.