Serum lipid and apolipoprotein levels in patients with psoriasis

Although there have been extensive studies of serum lipid levels in psoriasis, the data are conflicting. In the present study, 38 male psoriatic patients and 40 age-matched male control subjects were studied. In addition, a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in 28 patients and 28 age-matched control subjects, in order to exclude subjects with abnormal OGTT values from the study. Twenty-two patients and 26 control subjects had normal OGTT values. There was a tendency for psoriatic patients with normal glucose tolerance to have increased triglyceride levels, but this was not statistically significant. Total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels in patients were normal. However, serum apo B (P < 0.005), C-II (P < 0.005) and C-III (P < 0.005) levels in patients were significantly elevated compared with control subjects. When control subjects and patients with abnormal OGTT values were also included, a significant increase in triglyceride and apo E levels, and a significant decrease in the apo A-I level were observed in psoriatic patients. These findings suggest that psoriasis per se is associated with increases in apo B, C-II and C-III levels, but that this does not profoundly affect lipid levels. The abnormal lipoprotein metabolism may be related to the high incidence of atherosclerosis in psoriasis.