Evaluation of serum levels of heat shock protein 70 in patients with psoriasis in Basra, Iraq

Introduction
Psoriasis is a chronic, non-infectious skin disease that affects people of all ages and has no sex preference, which is caused by environmental stressors involving skin cells, immunocytes, and several biologic signaling molecules. Psoriasis has been linked to psychological, metabolic, arthritic, and cardiovascular complications. Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is considered the most protective member of the HSP family. HSP70 can regulate protein homeostasis, minimize stress-induced denaturation and aggregation of intracellular proteins and operate as a protective factor in tissue damage. This study aimed to investigate the serum level of HSP70 in patients with psoriasis to assess whether there is an association of HSP70 with psoriasis and to assess the effects of age, gender, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and disease duration on the serum level of HSP70.

Material and methods
This was a case-control study which recruited 98 patients with psoriasis and 81 apparently healthy age- and sex-matched individuals as controls. Blood samples were collected via venipuncture (5 ml) to estimate the HSP70, random blood sugar, liver enzymes, lipid profile, and complete blood count.

Results
The results revealed that the level of HSP70 was significantly higher in psoriasis patients compared to the control group (p-value < 0.05). The level of HSP70 showed a significant association with gender, but a non-significant positive correlation with duration of psoriasis. The level of HSP70 showed a non-significant negative correlation with age, BMI and waist circumference.

Conclusions
The study suggested that HSP70 may have a potential role in the pathophysiology of psoriasis and may help to explain the mechanisms behind the development and treatment of psoriatic lesions with different severity.