Are dermal adipocytes involved in psoriasis?

There is rapidly growing evidence that adipose tissue is involved in the pathophysiology of psoriasis. Recent results demonstrate that murine skin can react to pathogens with the expansion of its dermal adipose depot and an increased production of antimicrobial peptides, which in turn can cause exacerbation of psoriasis-associated inflammation. We hypothesize that dermal adipocytes rather than subcutaneous adipose tissues are involved in the pathophysiology of psoriasis. This model is supported by the observations that the use of a number of different therapeutic options to alleviate psoriasis invariably leads to a modulation of the dermal adipose tissue. We propose to test this hypothesis through a detailed profiling effort of adipocytes from psoriatic lesions prior to and after psoriasis-relevant therapies.