Background: Biological agent treatments represent a relatively new field and their effects on routine laboratory parameters are not fully known as there has been little research in the area. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the differences between the two main biological treatment groups and their effects on routine laboratory parameters. Methods: Patients were enrolled when they had received treatment for more than six months with biological treatments between January 2013 and April 2020. The available data on routine laboratory parameters were collected by routine blood tests before the treatment, at three months, and at the final evaluation. Results: When the changes in routine laboratory parameters were evaluated by treatment, it was found that the NLR and CRP values decreased statistically significantly in the anti-TNF group compared to the IL inhibitor group. In addition, strong suppression of these inflammation parameters means strong suppression of the immune system response. In addition, AST, ALT, and creatinine values were found to be statistically significantly higher in the anti-TNF group compared to the IL inhibitor group. Conclusion: In our study, anti-TNF treatments are shown to be more effective in reducing inflammation parameters while IL antagonists are safer in terms of biochemical parameters.

Background and Aim: Recent data draw attention to the effect of body composition, insulin resistance and adipocytokines to acne vulgaris (AV) development. The aim of this study to assess the association of AV with insulin resistance and adipocytokine levels and to evaluate the effect of isotretinoin on insulin resistance and adipocytokine levels. Material and Methods: In 29 AV patients and 29 healthy volunteers, body mass index (BMI) and body fat mass (BFM), lipid, adiponectin, leptin, resistin, retinol binding protein-4 (RBP4) and insulin levels were measured and insulin resistance was assessed by HOMA-IR index in serum samples taken twice from patients before and after isotretinoin treatment. Results: In AV patients, pretreatment HOMA-IR and adipocytokine level was not found to correlate with disease severity. With five months of isotretinoin treatment, higher HOMA-IR values were found (p=0.028). Isotretinoin therapy maintained lower mean resistin levels (p = 0.016), higher mean RBP4 levels (p = 0.040), but not affected the mean adiponectin and leptin levels (p = 0.113, p = 0.125, respectively). Conclusions: All data suggests that five months of isotretinoin therapy in AV patients causes insulin resistance and the increase in insulin resistance is not dependent on age, BMI, BFM and lipid levels of these patients. Key words: Acne vulgaris, adipocytokine, insulin sensitivity

The etiopathogenesis of psoriasis is not understood; however, psoriasis is affected by hormones, particularly the sex steroids. The second‐to‐fourth digit (2D:4D) ratio, which is an indicator of prenatal sex hormone balance, has been studied in various diseases that are affected by hormones. A total of 369 individuals comprising 172 patients with psoriasis and 197 healthy volunteers were included in the study. Patisents with psoriasis were divided into type‐1 and type‐2, according to age of onset and family history. The 2D:4D ratio of both hands was recorded for all participants. Females in the psoriasis group had a lower 2D:4D ratio in both hands compared with those in the control group, with no significant difference. Males in the psoriasis group had a higher 2D:4D ratio for both hands compared with those in the control group (p = 0.009 and p < 0.001 for the right and left hands, respectively). Further, male patients with type‐1 psoriasis had a lower 2D:4D ratio compared to those with type‐2 psoriasis. Our results suggest that an alteration of the estrogen–testosterone balance due to prenatal testosterone activity is an independent predisposing factor for psoriasis in males.