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. 2017 Jul;309(5):371-380.
doi: 10.1007/s00403-017-1748-x. Epub 2017 Jun 5.

Serum fatty acid profile in psoriasis and its comorbidity

Hanna Myśliwiec  1 , Anna Baran  2 , Ewa Harasim-Symbor  3 , Piotr Myśliwiec  4 , Anna Justyna Milewska  5 , Adrian Chabowski  3 , Iwona Flisiak  2
Affiliations

Serum fatty acid profile in psoriasis and its comorbidity

Hanna Myśliwiec et al. Arch Dermatol Res. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that is accompanied by metabolic disturbances and cardio-metabolic disorders. Fatty acids (FAs) might be a link between psoriasis and its comorbidity. The aim of the study was to evaluate serum concentrations of FAs and to investigate their association with the disease activity, markers of inflammation and possible involvement in psoriatic comorbidity: obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. We measured 14 total serum fatty acids content and composition by gas-liquid chromatography and flame-ionization detector after direct in situ transesterification in 85 patients with exacerbated plaque psoriasis and in 32 healthy controls. FAs were grouped according to their biologic properties to saturated FA (SFA), unsaturated FA (UFA), monounsaturated FA (MUFA), n-3 polyunsaturated FA (n-3 PUFA) and n-6 PUFA. Generally, patients characteristic included: Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), Body Mass Index, inflammatory and biochemical markers, lipid profile and presence of psoriatic comorbidity. We have observed highly abnormal FAs pattern in psoriatic patients both with and without obesity compared to the control group. We have demonstrated association of PASI with low levels of circulating DHA, n-3 PUFA (p = 0.044 and p = 0.048, respectively) and high percent of MUFA (p = 0.024) in the non-obese psoriatic group. The SFA/UFA ratio increased with the duration of the disease (p = 0.03) in all psoriatic patients. These findings indicate abnormal FAs profile in psoriasis which may reflect metabolic disturbances and might play a role in the psoriatic comorbidity.

Keywords: Fatty acid; MUFA; Metabolic syndrome; PUFA; Psoriasis; SFA.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was supported by a study grant from the Medical University of Białystok (Project No: N/ST/ZB/16/001/1149).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Bioethical Committee of Medical University of Białystok and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparison of FAs pattern in obese psoriatic patients (O Ps), non-obese psoriatic patients N–O Ps), whole psoriatic group (Ps) and the control group (Ctrl). MUFA monounsaturated fatty acids, PUFA polyunsaturated fatty acids, SFA saturated fatty acids, UFA unsaturated fatty acids. Data are shown as median and quartiles. Significant differences between the psoriatic groups and the controls are shown as: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. Significant differences between the psoriatic subgroups (obese vs non-obese) are shown as # p < 0.05; ## p < 0.01
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Scatterplot of correlation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA), percent of monounsaturated fatty acid (% MUFA) and PASI in psoriatic patients without obesity (n = 58)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Scatterplot of correlation of saturated to unsaturated fatty acid ratio (SFA/UFA) and duration of the disease (in months) in psoriatic patients (n = 85)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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