Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) D Allele as a Risk Factor for Increase Serum Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-8 in Psoriasis Patients

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin disease. It is characterised by autoimmune, environmental factors and complex genetic disorder. AIM: To explore the role of IL-6, IL-8, and ACE I/D polymorphism in the pathogenesis of Psoriasis and investigation of the relationship between ACE polymorphism and occurrence of psoriasis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, we took 73 psoriasis patients and 47 healthy patients as a control. These two groups subjected to analysis for ACE gene I/D polymorphism by PCR and biochemical methods. RESULTS: The serum levels of ACE, IL-8 and IL-6 were statistically significantly higher in psoriasis patients compared to healthy subjects (P < 0.001). ID and DD polymorphism were more common in psoriasis patients than healthy subjects. Also, D allele was significantly over-represented in patients compared to controls (52.7% Vs 35.1%). CONCLUSION: ACE gene polymorphism might grant susceptibility to develop psoriasis.