Abstract: Objective To evaluate serum leptin concentrations in patients with psoriasis and to investigate the correlation of serum leptin with the disease activity and clinical patterns of psoriasis. Methods Serum leptin concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA)in 51 consecutive psoriatic patients (35.55±12.28 years,29 males,22 females) and 50 healthy volunteers matched with body massindex (BMI),age and sex (31.22±7.19 years,25 males,25 females). Results The average serumleptin concentration was significantly higher in psoriatic patients(7.62±4.32 ng/mL,P=0.004) than that in the normal controls (5.40±3.14 ng/mL).There was a significant difference of serumlep tin concentration between female and male subjects(P=0.000).Compared with the normal controls,serum leptin concentrations were significantly higher in the patients with psoriasis vulgaris and with active psoriasis vulgaris(7.64±3.90 ng/mL,P=0.006;8.29±3.85 ng/mL,P=0.002,respectively),and were not significantly higher in inactive patients(6.52±3.90 ng/mL,P>0.05).Significantly higher concentrations of serum leptin was also seen in psoriasis vulgaris patients without family history(8.41±3.70 ng/mL,P=0.001) and patients with pustular psoriasis (11.72±6.45 ng/mL,P=0.000),but not in patients with positive family history (6.10±4.00 ng/mL,P>0.05). Conclusions Serum leptin may play a role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Key words: Leptin, Psoriasis