الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Psoriasis is a common, chronic, disfiguring, inflammatory and proliferative disease of skin. It affects the skin, scalp, nails, mucous membranes and joints.
Although there are several clinical variations of psoriasis, the commonest from is the chronic plaque type which usually presents as erythematous scaly plaques at the predisposed areas i.e. the extensor aspects, elbows, knees, sacral area and the scalp.
Psoriasis is one of the most common chronic inflammatory skin disorders, affecting about 2% of the general population.
It begins at any age with two peaks of onset, the early onset from 16-22 years of age and the late one from 57-60 years of age.
Psoriasis is a genetic disease which is triggered by environmental stimuli such as physical trauma, infection, stress, certain drugs, endocrinal factors on immunological bases.
The exact pathogenesis of psoriasis is still unknown, it is considered as a chronic inflammatory skin disease that is thought to be mediated by Th1 cells, secreting IFN-, IL-2, IL-8 and TNF-.
Interestingly recent advances by cellular immunologists have identified a new distinct type of T-cell, called Th17 cell that plys an essential pathogenic role in psoriasis.
IL-23 is required for the activation of T-cells which lead to the expansion and proliferation of IL-17 producing T-cells.
The IL-17 family is a recently described subclass of cytokines that has a very important role in many immunological diseases such as psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and some infections.
The aim of our study is to measure serum IL-17 level in patients with psoriasis in order to evaluate its role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and its possible use as a marker for disease severity.
This study included forty patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and twenty healthy controls. Serum samples were taken from all patients and from controls. All samples were assessed for IL-17 using ELISA methods.
Disease severity was calculated by psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score.
The statistical analysis were done. Our results showed that there was significant difference between cases and controls as regards mean serum IL-17.
In addition, serum IL-17 levels of psoriatic patients showed a positive significant correlation with the disease severity (PASI Score) of such patients.