Association of the Complement System with Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Psoriasis: Findings from an Observational Cohort Study

Psoriasis is a chronic and inflammatory disease that affects the skin and joints, and is associated with multiple co-morbidities and cardiovascular risk factors. Consequently, patients with psoriasis have an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis, a chronic pathology that shares common inflammatory and immune-response mechanisms with psoriasis, including vascular inflammation and complement activation. To better understand the relationship between atherosclerosis and psoriasis, a proteomics study followed by a bioinformatics analysis was carried out, with a subsequent validation step using ELISA and western blotting. When the plasma from patients with psoriasis alone was compared to that from patients with psoriasis and atherosclerosis, 31 proteins of interest related to the complement system and oxygen transport were identified. After the validation phase, 11 proteins appeared to define the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with psoriasis, indicating the importance of complement cascades in the development of atherosclerotic plaques in psoriatic individuals. These results are a step forward in understanding the pathological pathways implicated in the cardiovascular risk associated with this population, which may represent an interesting starting point to develop predictive tools that improve the follow-up of these patients, and to design more effective therapies.