Turkderm Turkish Archives of Dermatology and Venereology, cilt.52, sa.4, ss.120-125, 2018 (Scopus)
Background and Design: Psoriasis vulgaris is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease presenting with oxidative stress and tissue inflammation. Thiol and disulfide levels have been shown to increase in inflammatory diseases as a marker of total oxidant status. To date, imbalances or abnormalities in thiol/disulfide homeostasis have been shown to have an etiopathogenetic role in a few dermatological diseases, such as seborrheic dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, alopecia areata, acute urticaria, and melasma. We aimed to investigate whether blood thiol and disulfide levels or thiol/disulfide ratios are increased in psoriasis vulgaris and to determine whether they can be used as a novel prognostic inflammatory marker. Materials and Methods: The blood levels of native thiol, total thiol and disulfide were analyzed in a total of 29 patients diagnosed with psoriasis vulgaris by biopsy and 30 healthy controls. Native-total thiol, disulfide-native thiol and disulfide-total thiol ratios were compared between the two groups. The correlation between these measurements and Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) values were also examined in patients with psoriasis. Results: The disulfide levels were higher in patients with psoriasis vulgaris compared to the control group (p=0.021; p<0.05), however, the levels of native thiol and total thiol as well as the ratios of disulfide/native thiol and disulfide/total thiol were similar in both groups (p>0.05). PASI scores were not significantly correlated with the levels of total and native thiol and disulfide/native thiol and disulfide/total thiol ratios (p>0.05). Conclusion: The increase in blood disulfide levels indicating a thiol/disulfide imbalance was significant in psoriasis vulgaris as a result of oxidative stress and tissue inflammation. However, the level of disulfide did not show a definite positive correlation with the severity of psoriasis measured using PASI.