Resistin in patients with psoriasis vulgaris during PUVA therapy

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Currently, psoriasis represents a serious medical and social problem, and it is one of the most common chronic skin diseases. Over the past decades, special attention has been paid to the association of psoriasis with various diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, depression, etc. Common comorbidities of psoriasis include metabolic syndrome or obesity. Resistin is one of the hormones produced by adipose tissue, the concentration of which increases markedly in patients with psoriasis. Resistin expression is induced by proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-a. In turn, an increase in resistin levels leads to increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in the development of psoriasis, thereby promoting the recruitment of leukocytes during the inflammatory process leading to chronic inflammation. Taken together, the above changes may contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome in psoriasis. Among the effective methods of treating the disease, phototherapy methods (PUVA and UVB 311 nm) remain relevant. Considering these data, it is of interest to study the level of resistin in the serum of patients with psoriasis and its change after a course of PUVA. AIM: The aim of our study was to evaluate the serum resistin level in patients with psoriasis vulgaris before and after PUVA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted at the department of Skin and Venereology diseases at the Sechenov University in the period from June 2022 to November 2023. The study included 30 patients with psoriasis vulgaris of moderate severity (PASI 20), of whom there were 16 men and 14 women. The healthy control group included 20 participants (11 men and 9 women). All patients had blood drawn from a vein during hospitalization and after a course of PUVA. Healthy participants underwent a single blood draw from a vein. RESULTS: A noticeable decrease in the level of resistin in the blood serum was revealed after a course of PUVA in all patients with psoriasis compared to baseline values. In addition, after treatment, resistin levels approached the values recorded in healthy participants. CONCLUSION: Thus, our study allows us to consider resistin as a biological marker of the effectiveness of PUVA in the treatment of patients with psoriasis vulgaris, as well as a predictor of the occurrence of concomitant diseases in patients with psoriasis.