European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore the metabolic pattern of uninvolved skin, psoriatic skin and corticosteroid treated psoriatic skin.
Methods: Twelve patients with stable light to moderate plaque psoriasis volunteered to participate in the study. Eight of the patients were men and four were women (not pregnant or nursing) with a median age of 52 (range 28-75) years.
Results: We observed no differences in the tissue levels of creatine, glycine, lactate or phosphocholine between the three types of samples. Seven of the patients showed a good clinical effect of topical corticosteroid treatment (at least 40% reduction of clinical score), whereas three patients had poor effect (less than 40% reduction of clinical score). We found metabolic changes that were different in these two patient groups for five of the metabolites (p<0.05, Mann-Whitney). In skin samples from patients with good treatment results, glucose, myo-inositol, GPC and glycine increased with treatment, whereas choline decreased.
Conclusion: This MR method demonstrates that metabolism in psoriatic skin becomes similar to that of uninvolved skin after effective corticosteroid treatment. MR profiling of skin lesions reflect metabolic alterations related to pathogenesis and treatment effects