Platelet polymorphism rs5918T > C in the integrin B3 gene modulates comorbidities in patients with psoriasis

Psoriasis Vulgaris is a complex multifactorial dermatological disease, with various genetic and environmental factors implicated in the onset and progression of the disease and comorbidities. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic syndrome are essential psoriasis comorbidities that suggest a potential hypercoagulable background of the disease. To better understand the link between psoriasis, hypercoagulation and comorbidities, we investigated the prothrombotic polymorphism rs5918T > C in integrin B3 (ITGB3) in 102 patients diagnosed with psoriasis and 97 healthy controls, all Caucasian. The patients, carriers of rs5918T > C polymorphism, were compared with non-carriers for metabolic risk factors related to metabolic syndrome and CV disease. Our results revealed that the incidence of ITGB3rs5918(C) allele carriage was only slightly increased in psoriatic patients compared to healthy controls (20.6% vs 18.6%), and psoriatic patients with the polymorphism showed an increased incidence of metabolic risk factors. Dyslipidemia, high triglycerides (42.9% vs 27.5%), high cholesterol (66.7% vs 45.5%) and low High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) (47.6% vs 32.8%) were significantly more prevalent (p = .019) among psoriatic carriers of the rs5918(C) polymorphism compared to psoriatic non-carriers. The incidence of metabolic syndrome was significantly higher among polymorphism carriers (52.4%) compared to non-carriers (20.5%) within the psoriatic patient group (p = .014), whereas CVD incidence was higher but non-significantly. The carriage of ITGB3rs5918(C) polymorphism in patients with psoriasis was associated with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome and dyslipidaemias and a higher but non-significant prevalence of CVD compared to non-carriers. However, the frequency of this polymorphism was similar in psoriasis patients and healthy controls.