IL-1 may influence or be influenced by a number of abnormalities present in psoriasis; including keratinocyte proliferation, eicosanoid production, fibroblast activation, endothelial cell adhesiveness, T cell infiltration and activation, cyclic nucleotide metabolism, and transmembrane signal transduction mechanisms. We assessed IL-1 regulation in normal, uninvolved, and involved skin of psoriatic patients using immunofluorescence microscopy, a sensitive ELISA method to quantitate immunoreactive IL-1 beta and IL-1 alpha protein levels, the thymocyte proliferation costimulation assay, costimulation of the LBRM.33 IL-1-sensitive cell line, and Northern blotting of cellular RNA to quantitate IL-1 alpha and beta mRNA. IL-1 beta was easily detectable by immunofluorescence microscopy and found to be localized predominantly in epidermal keratinocytes, whereas IL-1 alpha was not detectable with this method. Immunoreactive IL-1 beta was found to be elevated in cytosolic extracts derived from involved psoriatic keratomes relative to keratomes of normal skin. The elevated IL-1 beta protein was accompanied by elevated levels of IL-1 beta mRNA in psoriatic skin relative to normal skin. In contrast, immunoreactive IL-1 alpha levels were markedly reduced in lesional psoriatic skin. In functional assays using both the thymocyte proliferation assay and the LBRM.33 cell line, IL-1 activity from psoriatic involved skin keratomes was markedly reduced relative to that of uninvolved psoriatic keratomes and normal skin. All activity of both normal and psoriatic skin was attributable to IL-1 alpha. The elevated IL-1 beta immunoreactive protein present in psoriatic skin was found to be functionally inactive in these assays. The inactivity of the IL-1 beta was not due to an artifact of the cytosolic method of preparation because IL-1 beta released by psoriatic skin into the media was also nonfunctional. This was in keeping with the demonstration that the IL-1 beta was nonfunctional despite existing as a processed molecule. Taken together, these data demonstrate uncoordinated regulation of IL-1 alpha and Il-1 beta in psoriasis. The profound and complex changes in this system suggest IL-1 dysregulation may be integrally involved in the inflammatory, biochemical, and proliferative processes involved in the pathophysiology of psoriasis.