NEW DELHI: People with psoriasis -- a skin condition -- often have invisible inflammation in the small intestine that increases their propensity for ‘leaky gut’, according to a research Monday.
The gut inflammation may explain why psoriasis patients often have gastrointestinal problems and are more prone to developing Crohn’s disease, said the team at Uppsala University in Sweden.
Psoriasis is a hereditary, chronic skin condition that can also result in inflammation of the joints. Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), especially Crohn’s disease, are more common in patients with psoriasis than in the rest of the population.
The small study involved 18 patients with psoriasis and 15 healthy controls as subjects. 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. They found that people with psoriasis had higher numbers of certain types of immune cells in their small intestine.
These cells also "showed signs of pro-inflammatory activity”, said Maria Lampinen, researcher at Uppsala University.
"Interestingly, we found 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," she added.
The findings are published in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Molecular Basis of Disease.
Normally, the intestinal mucosa acts as a protective barrier that also allows nutrients and water to pass through it. In some autoimmune diseases, the intestinal barrier may function poorly -- leaky gut -- leading to bacteria and harmful substances leaking through the intestinal barrier and causing inflammation.
This can also cause more widespread inflammation when these substances are spread via the bloodstream.
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. These changes could explain why psoriasis sufferers often have gastrointestinal problems, and an increased risk of developing Crohn’s disease,” the researchers said.