2023-06-06 02:50:23
As if that weren’t enough: Current findings show that psoriasis not only affects the skin, but can also have other unpleasant effects.
It is estimated that more than 125 million people worldwide suffer from it Psoriasis, with men and women being equally affected. An actual Studythat appear in the journal Science Immunulogy published, now sheds light on why psoriasis can also affect other parts of the body.
The fire spreads
In addition to the reddish, scaly lesionswhich form on the skin of people with psoriasis, mild and severe forms of the disease can be distinguished based on the activity of key cells and signaling pathways.
Led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the study mapped hidden features of inflammation and examined how they differ in cases of increasing psoriasis severity. The team’s findings may help explain how small pockets of inflammation in the skin can have far-reaching effects in other parts of the body. The researchers found that up to a fifth of sufferers later developed psoriatic arthritis. The study results could also shed light on why psoriasis causes this and other diseases like it Typ-2-Diabetesheart disease and inflammatory bowel disease.
Too much of a good thing – increased gene activity
Current analyzes showed that the location of fibroblasts and macrophages varied and that these cell types were more frequently found in the upper layers of the skin in more severe cases of psoriasis.
In addition, the research team found that skin samples from patients with moderate to severe psoriasis had increased gene activity in more than three dozen molecular pathways. These signaling pathways were related to metabolism and the control of lipid levels – factors known to be imbalanced in diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This increased gene activity occurred even in skin that was not lesioned.
New techniques enable a deep insight
Jose Scher, Steere Abramson associate professor of medicine in NYU Langone Health’s medical department, notes that the study goes beyond current diagnostic tools. These have so far focused heavily on the visible signs of skin lesions, rather than examining their invisible systemic and molecular effects. Many available therapies including steroids and immunosuppressantswhile reducing inflammation and symptoms, do not address the causes of the disease.
The study relied on what is known as spatial transcriptomics, a technique that records the molecular and cellular interactions in a given tissue. Researchers analyzed intact skin samples from 11 men and women with mild to severe cases of psoriasis and three healthy adults without psoriasis. Spatial transcriptomics is more powerful than other common techniques that track single cells because it creates a comprehensive image-based map showing where cells are in the tissue and what other cells they are communicating with.
First steps towards a holistic understanding
“Having found signals with potential systemic consequences, we are now working to understand how skin inflammation can lead to widespread diseases that affect other organs,” says Scher.
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According to Shruti Naik, an assistant professor of pathology, medicine and NYU Langone’s Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, the team next plans to use their latest analysis to identify the biological mechanisms involved in skin inflammation in a specific area are involved and how they affect the skin or other organs in another part of the body. Further studies are also planned in larger patient populations and in lesioned and non-lesioned skin of the same patients to determine how the disease resolves on its own in some and why patients respond differently to the same anti-inflammatory drugs.
This article is based on a press release from NYU Langone Health/NYU Grossman School of Medicine. We have the original publication for you here and linked in the text.
Image source: raquel raclette, unsplash
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