Introduction

Patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have metabolic disturbances, which may be due to chronic inflammation.

Aim

Because interleukin-6 (IL-6) regulates both metabolic and inflammatory processes, we evaluated IL-6 as a potential marker of inflammation and metabolic disturbances in psoriasis.

Material and methods

This study involved 93 patients with psoriasis, including 31 patients with concurrent PsA. We investigated whether serum markers of lipid metabolism and inflammation, including IL-6, were related to each other and to disease activity.

Results

We found that concurrent PsA was associated with higher serum concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and IL-6. In patients with psoriasis alone, the IL-6 serum concentration correlated positively with the concentrations of TC and LDL-c and with erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESRs). Moreover, IL-6 concentrations tended to correlate positively with the percentage of the body area affected by psoriatic lesions. Among all patients, those with normal blood lipids had lower ESRs and IL-6 concentrations than patients with abnormal blood lipids. A logistic regression model showed that PsA, Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI), and ESR were significant predictors of the serum IL-6 concentration.

Conclusions

Interleukin-6 may be an indicator of inflammatory activity in psoriasis. Moreover, IL-6 may be related to lipid abnormalities in patients with this disease.