Elevated plasma osteopontin level is associated with occurrence of psoriasis and is an unfavorable cardiovascular risk factor in patients with psoriasis
Accepted 28 September 2008. published online 25 November 2008.
Background
The association between psoriasis and cardiovascular diseases is well documented yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive.
Objectives
We sought to study the role of circulating osteopontin (OPN) in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases in patients with psoriasis.
Methods
Plasma samples from 40 patients with psoriasis and 37 control subjects were collected for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The clinical significance of OPN levels in patients with psoriasis versus control subjects was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test and logistic regression. DNA samples from 268 patients with psoriasis and 146 control subjects were collected for genotyping of the OPN gene.
Results
Higher body mass index values (P = .047) and hypertension (odds ratio [OR] 2.68, P = .05) were observed in patients with psoriasis. Increased plasma OPN levels (≥62.95 ng/mL) were significantly associated with psoriasis (OR 6.24, P = .001), hypertension (OR 3.05, P = .03), and diabetes mellitus (OR 3.13, P = .05). Occurrence of psoriasis (OR 5.12, P = .003) appeared to be the single independent risk factor for high plasma OPN values after multivariate logistic regression. Among patients with psoriasis, increased plasma OPN values were associated with the presence of hypertension (OR 4.69, P = .05). However, no significantly different allelic distributions of single nucleotide polymorphisms of the OPN gene were found between psoriasis and control groups.
Limitations
The number of patients evaluated was relatively small.
Conclusions
High plasma OPN levels are an unfavorable factor for development of cardiovascular disease in patients with psoriasis.
aDepartment of Dermatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
bDepartment of Gastroenterology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
cDepartment of Pathology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
dDepartment of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
eDepartment of Dermatology, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
fDepartment of Dermatology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Reprint requests: Yun-Ting Chang, MD, PhD, Department of Dermatology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang Ming University, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shih-Pai Rd. Taipei 112, Taiwan.
Supported by Taichung Veterans General Hospital research grants (TCVGH-956802B, TCVGH-9546801A, 2006 and TCVGH-966801A, 2007).
Conflicts of interest: None declared.
∗ Dr Y-J. Chen and Dr Shen contributed equally to this work.
ABSTRACT