[Cutaneous lipids and psoriasis].

The concentration of total cholesterol and that of its sterified fraction is studied in skin biopsies and blood of psoriatic patients. The results show high cholesterol levels in skin of psoriatic plaques and of healthy areas. The sterified cholesterol proportion is significantly less in plaques than in skin without lesions of the same patients, and that of the normal controls. These alterations are not accompanied by a modification of the plasmatic lipidic profile. The results could be the expression of a raise of the skin cholesterol preceeding and perhaps predisposing the evolution of the psoriatic lesion, and the deficit on the cholesterol enzymes sterification as a biochemical marker of the accelerated differentiation and cornification at the psoriatic plaque.