Abstract
Psoriasis is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory disease. We aimed to examine blood levels of nucleosomes derived from apoptotic cells, nucleosomal cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and immune-inflammatory biomarkers tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in psoriatic subjects.
The study included 28 patients with exacerbated psoriasis vulgaris and 22 controls. The clinical and laboratory investigations included the determination of PASI score, BMI, cfDNA (by real-time PCR), nucleosomes, TNF-alpha, CRP, and IL-6.
The range of PASI score in psoriatic patients was 10-34 (median 19). In the patients, we found significantly elevated levels (p < 0.001) of cfDNA, nucleosomes, TNF-alpha, CRP, and IL-6.
We did not find any significant relationship between the analyzed parameters in either group (i.e., experimental or control). Elevated levels of the biomarkers of inflammation (TNF-alpha, CRP, and IL-6) and the indicators of apoptosis (cfDNA, circulating nucleosomes) proved that exacerbated psoriasis vulgaris is associated with a high degree of systemic inflammatory responses and dysregulated apoptotic pathways.