Background: Psoriasis is an immunity chronic hyperproliferative illness. An indicator of cellular immunity is neopterin, a biological substance. According to reports, psoriasis causes an increase in serum neopterin levels, which thereafter drop as a result of treatment.
Objectives: To evaluate serum levels of neopterin in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
Patients and methods: This study is a case-control study that involved 30 patients with psoriasis and 30 healthy subjects as control. Patients were treated with Narrowband UVB (3session /week ) for 3 months. Serum neopetrin levels were measured pre and post treatment by performing an enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). All patients were clinically and photographically evaluated using Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI score).
Results: A Statistically significant differences in serum Neopterin level have been found in psoriatic patients comparing to healthy controls. The mean of serum Neopterin levels were 2.8 and 0.7 (nmol/L) in psoriatic patients and healthy controls, respectively (P< 0.001). We found Statistically significant improvement in disease severity, and a significant decrease in PASI scores was detected. The median of PASI score pre and post NB-UVB therapy was 31.4 and 8, respectively, with statistical significant difference (P<0.001). We noted significant difference between serum levels of Neopterin in patients before and after treatment, with a higher level of serum Neopterin among patients before treatment (P< 0.001).
Conclusion: Serum neopterin was highly significant in the psoriatic patients compared to healthy controls (p < 0.05). A significant decrease was observed in serum neopterin level after the narrowband UVB therapy.