Background: Psoriasis is a widespread systemic chronic cell immune-mediated inflammatory condition of the nails, skin, and joints that affects adults and children of different age groups. The inability to initiate and/or sustain an adequate erection for satisfactory sexual performance is known as erectile dysfunction (ED).
Aim: The objective of this research is to measure serum ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in the periphery and penile blood to evaluate endothelial function in psoriasis patients with or without arteriogenic erectile dysfunction thus can serve as an early marker of endothelial cell injury and their possible future role in management of these disorders.
Patients and methods: Thirty patients with psoriasis and arteriogenic ED, thirty patients with arteriogenic ED and thirty healthy donors were subjected for measuring serum ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 levels in the periphery and penile blood as well as assessment of erectile function by Penile Dopplex ultrasound.
Results: Psoriatic patients with arteriogenic ED had significantly higher serum ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 levels (more in penile than peripheral blood samples) than patients with arteriogenic ED only. And the difference reached high statistical significance between psoriatic patients with ED and healthy controls.
Conclusion: In psoriasis and erectile dysfunction, measurements of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in the serum could be used as indicators of clinical treatment and outcome, allowing for early therapy and avoidance of endothelial damage.