People with psoriasis often have invisible inflammation in the small intestine, placing them a risk for ‘leaky gut’, according to new research at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden.
These changes may explain why psoriasis patients experience gastrointestinal problems and are more prone to developing Crohn’s disease.
The study appears in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Molecular Basis of Disease.
“With our study, we can now show that people with psoriasis often have invisible inflammation in their small intestines, with an increased risk of what’s called leaky gut,” says study author Maria Lampinen, a researcher at Uppsala University, in a news release.
The study involved 18 patients with psoriasis and 15 healthy controls. None of the participants had been diagnosed with gastrointestinal diseases. Samples were taken from both their small and large bowel. The researchers then studied different types of immune cells in the mucous membrane.
Psoriasis patients had higher numbers of certain types of immune cells in their small intestine, and the cells showed signs of pro-inflammatory activity. These were the same type of immune cells in skin flare-ups from psoriasis patients, suggesting that the inflammation of the skin may have an impact on the gut, or vice versa.
Half of the psoriasis patients in the study had increased intestinal barrier permeability or leaky gut. These same patients also reported more gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain and bloating than patients with a normal intestinal barrier. They also had elevated levels of inflammatory substances in their intestines.
“Given that the psoriasis patients in our study had relatively mild skin disease and showed no visible intestinal inflammation in a gastroscopy, they had surprisingly clear changes in their small intestine compared to healthy controls,” the researchers report. “These changes could explain why psoriasis sufferers often have gastrointestinal problems, and an increased risk of developing Crohn’s disease.”
