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The Role of the Skin and Gut Microbiome in Psoriatic Disease

  • Psoriasis (J Wu, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

To understand the changes in the microbiome in psoriatic disease, we conducted a systematic review of studies comparing the skin and gut microbiota in psoriatic individuals and healthy controls.

Recent Findings

Our review of studies pertaining to the cutaneous microbiome showed a trend towards an increased relative abundance of Streptococcus and a decreased level of Propionibacterium in psoriasis patients compared to controls. In the gut microbiome, the ratio of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes was perturbed in psoriatic individuals compared to healthy controls. Actinobacteria was also relatively underrepresented in psoriasis patients relative to healthy individuals.

Summary

Although the field of the psoriatic microbiome is relatively new, these first studies reveal interesting differences in microbiome composition that may be associated with the development of psoriatic comorbidities and serve as novel therapeutic targets.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by grants to Wilson Liao (NIH R01 AR065174, NIH U01 AI119125, National Psoriasis Foundation Translational Research Award). Dr. Liao is also grateful for charitable support from the Dinsmore family. Di Yan acknowledges support from a National Psoriasis Foundation Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Di Yan, Ladan Afifi, Caleb Jeon, Hsin-Wen Chang & Wilson Liao

  2. School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Naiem Issa

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  1. Di Yan
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  2. Naiem Issa
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  3. Ladan Afifi
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  4. Caleb Jeon
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  6. Wilson Liao
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Correspondence to Di Yan.

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Authors Wilson Liao, Di Yan, Ladan Afifi, Caleb Jeon, and Hsin-Win Chang report no conflicts of interest in this work.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Psoriasis

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Yan, D., Issa, N., Afifi, L. et al. The Role of the Skin and Gut Microbiome in Psoriatic Disease. Curr Derm Rep 6, 94–103 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13671-017-0178-5

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