Trace Elements Homeostatic Imbalance in Psoriasis: a Meta-Analysis

A Mendelian randomization analysis of inflammatory skin disease risk due to mineral deficiencies

Background

Mineral deficiencies, such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se), play crucial roles in inflammation and immune responses and are linked to chronic inflammatory skin diseases. This study used genome-wide association study (GWAS) data and Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the genetic causality among serum levels of five minerals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Ca), three iron metabolism indicators (TSAT, TIBC, ferritin), and three chronic inflammatory skin diseases [psoriasis (PS), atopic dermatitis (AD), acne vulgaris (AV)].

Methods

Two-sample MR analyses using the "TwoSample MR" package in R were conducted with aggregate outcome data from the FinnGen database. The inverse-variance-weighted (IVW) method was applied to assess causal relationships between mineral levels and disease outcomes. Robustness was examined via heterogeneity and pleiotropy tests.

Results

IVW analysis showed significant association between blood transferrin saturation (TSAT) and PS (p = 0.004, OR = 1.18). Serum Zn and Se levels showed inverse correlation with AD (p = 0.039, OR = 0.92). However, due to limited SNPs, robustness was reduced.

Conclusion

TSAT is genetically linked to PS, highlighting iron homeostasis in disease development. Zn and Se intake may reduce AD risk.

The Association Between Psoriasis and Trace Element Serum Levels and Dietary Intake: Results from USA National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2014

Objective

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory disease. However, trace elements are essential to biochemical processes of the skin, it is suspected that the trace elements are vital in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Our research is aimed to investigate the association between serum levels and dietary intake levels of selenium, zinc, and copper with psoriasis.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, we utilized the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2011 to 2014 to examine the association between psoriasis and serum concentration and dietary intake of trace elements including copper, zinc, and selenium in the US individuals. Our research combined two cycles and weighted the data. Student's t-tests and χ2 test were used. Subgroup analyses and interaction tests were conducted by IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and EmpowerStats.

Results

This study indicates that the population with psoriasis has a lower dose of dietary intake selenium than the controls, and risk analysis showed that the men with selenium daily intake >150 mcg/day have a decreasing risk for psoriasis compared to those with daily intaking selenium <75 mcg/day. However, there are no differences on daily intake of selenium, zinc, and copper and serum levels of Zinc and Copper between psoriasis and healthy controls. The current study showed that the psoriasis group was significantly older with a bigger waist circumference, a higher education level, a higher ratio of people with smoke every day, and a higher ratio of people in USA and being non-Hispanic White.

Conclusion

This cross-section study showed that a high selenium intake may benefit USA adults from psoriasis, especially for males. The social and cultural background and ethnic differences between the two groups influence the eating and living models, including the trace element intake. The national recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) might be considered to be modified with more reliable investigative clinical data and certain considering the social and cultural models.

Study of dietary‑induced progression of psoriasis‑like mice based on gut macrophage polarization

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of stimulating food (SF), a Traditional Chinese Medicine term for a high protein, high fat diet, on psoriasis exacerbation. It was hypothesized that SF disposed psoriasis-like aggravation might be related to inflammatory pathways induction via gut dysbiosis. In the present study, mice were fed either an SF or normal diet for 4 weeks. In the last week, their back hair was removed to establish psoriasis-like dermatitis by imiquimod. After sacrifice, blood samples, alimentary tissues and skin lesions were collected and tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, western blotting, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. Compared with normal diet groups, body weight and blood glucose of SF diet mice were not increased, but they exhibited higher modified Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores and corresponding epithelial hyperproliferation. Unexpectedly, skin lesions showed abnormal lower protein expressions of Notch and TLR-2/NF-κB p65 signaling pathway, which was attributable to severe skin damage. No difference was observed in the structure and inflammatory cell infiltration of the gut between groups. Instead, macrophage polarization (M1/M2) in the gut of the SF diet group marked by high expression of CD11b (a marker of macrophage, M1) and mild low expression of MRC1 (a marker of macrophage, M2), which resulted in increased TNF-α, decreased IL-10, IL-35, and unchanged IL-17 in serum. Furthermore, serum derived from SF diet mice promoted translocation of NF-κB p65 in HaCaT cells, which indirectly suggested a systemic inflammation. These results suggested that mice fed a continuous SF diet for a time could change gut macrophage polarization, which secretes proinflammatory cytokines into blood circulation. Once transported to skin lesions, these cytokines activate psoriasis tissue resident immune cells and present as psoriasis exacerbation.

Adverse impact of occupational exposure on Laborers of cement industry have scalp psoriasis and Pityriasis amiantacea with deficiency of zinc and selenium: impact of mineral supplement

The relationship between occupational exposure and different skin diseases including scalp psoriasis and Pityriasis amiantacea has been studied. The information about imbalance of essential trace elements in psoriatic patients is still scarce. In the present follow-up study, the scalp hair and blood samples of patients (labors of cement factory) have different skin disorders (plaque's psoriasis and Pityriasis amiantacea) and were analyzed for zinc (Zn) and selenium (Se) before and after treatment with mineral supplements. For comparative purposes, both biological samples of referents who do not have any skin disease (office workers and labors of cement industry) were also analyzed for Zn and Se using an atomic absorption spectrometer. The result indicates a significant decrease in the concentrations of Se and Zn in both biological samples of patients with scalp psoriasis and P. amiantacea as compared with referents/controls, whereas the referent labor has not any skin disease with 15-25% lower values of both essential trace elements as compared to office worker, possibly due to poor diet.

The Effect of Methotrexate on Serum Levels of Trace/Mineral Elements in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis is a type of inflammatory arthritis that occurs in some patients with psoriasis. Clinically, low-dose methotrexate was used to treat psoriatic arthritis as a first-line agent. However, the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis and the mechanism of methotrexate treating psoriatic arthritis remained unclear. In recent years, a variety of side effects associated with methotrexate have been reported. In order to illuminate the role of trace/mineral elements in the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis and the side effect of low-dose methotrexate on blood cells and trace/mineral elements in patients with psoriatic arthritis, 37 psoriatic arthritis patients and healthy 50 people with similar age and gender were enrolled in this study. The blood cells, serum trace/mineral elements, liver function, and kidney function were determined. The results revealed that the level of serum zinc was significantly lower and copper was significantly higher in psoriatic arthritis patients in comparison with healthy control. After giving patients methotrexate intravenously (15 mg weekly), their serum zinc was significantly increased, and copper was significantly decreased with symptoms relieved. Our study provided the evidence that low zinc and high copper might be associated with the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis, and the possible mechanism of methotrexate treating psoriatic arthritis was through elevating zinc and reducing copper in serum. Moreover, we demonstrated that low-dose methotrexate could induce liver damage to psoriatic arthritis patients.

Low levels of organic compound trace elements improve the eggshell quality, antioxidant capacity, immune function, and mineral deposition of aged laying hens

In the egg production industry, trace elements are required as additional dietary supplements to play vital roles in performance and egg quality. Compared to inorganic microelements (ITs), appropriate dose of organic trace microelements (OTs) are environmentally friendly and sufficient to satisfy the needs of hens. In order to evaluate the extent to which low-dose OTs replace whole ITs, the effects of organic copper, zinc, manganese, and iron compound on the performance, eggshell quality, antioxidant capacity, immune function, and mineral deposition of old laying hens were investigated. A total of 1 080 57-week-old Jing Hong laying hens were assigned to five groups with six replicates of 36 layers each for an 8-week experimental period. The birds were fed either a basal diet (control treatment (CT)) or the basal diet supplemented with commercial levels of inorganic trace elements (IT 100%) or the equivalent organic trace elements at 20%, 30%, and 50% of the inorganic elements (OT 20%, OT 30%, and OT 50%, respectively). Results showed that compared with those in the CT treatment, feeding hens with inorganic or organic microelement diet had significant effects on the eggshell quality, antioxidant capacity, immune function, and mineral deposition of old laying hens (P < 0.05). The eggshell strength and ratio between OT 30%, OT 50%, and IT 100% were similar at weeks 4 and 8, and the eggshell thickness of these groups was also similar at weeks 6 and 8. At week 8, the eggshell colour in OT 50% was darker than that in IT 100%. The mineral content in the eggshells of OT 50% and IT 100% significantly increased (P < 0.001), with no significant difference in effective thickness, mammillary thickness, and mammillary knob width between groups. There were no differences in the malondialdehyde content, total antioxidant capacity, and total superoxide dismutase activity in serum between OT 30%, OT 50%, and IT100%. While the catalase activities, the interleukin-1β, interleukin-10, immunoglobulin G, and immunoglobulin M concentrations in serum were not significantly different between OT 50% and IT 100%. The mineral contents in the faeces of the organic groups were considerably reduced compared with those in IT 100% (P < 0.001). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with 30-50% organic compound microelements has the potential to replace 100% inorganic microelements in the hen industry for improving eggshell quality, mineral deposition in the eggshell, antioxidant capacity, and immune function, and reducing emissions to the environment without negative effects on laying performance.

Selenium levels and skin diseases: systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Several studies have investigated the association between selenium levels and skin diseases, but reached inconsistent results.

OBJECTIVE

This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between selenium levels and skin diseases.

METHODS

A systematic search was conducted in public databases to identify all relevant studies, and study-specific standard mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were pooled to compare the selenium levels between different groups.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven studies were identified with a total of 1315 patient and 7181 healthy controls. Compared with controls, no significant difference in selenium was found in patients with vitiligo (SMD = 0.53, 95% CI: -0.40 to 1.45), alopecia areata (SMD = 0.47, 95% CI: -2.72 and 3.65), or eczema (SMD = 0.12, 95% CI: -0.24 to 0.48). A lower selenium level was found in patients with psoriasis (SMD = -0.62, 95% CI: -1.15 to -0.10), acne vulgaris (SMD = -1.02, 95% CI: -1.45 to -0.60), chloric acne (SMD = -2.35, 95% CI: -3.15 to -1.55), and atopic dermatitis (SMD = -2.62, 95% CI: -3.00 to -2.24). As for disease severity, severe patients had a higher selenium level than mild patients in psoriasis (SMD = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.07-1.38), but no difference was found in vitiligo (SMD = -0.26, 95% CI: -2.38 to 1.85) and alopecia areata (SMD = 0.46, 95% CI: -0.34 to 1.26).

CONCLUSION

Selenium levels were associated with several skin diseases and the disease severity, and high selenium levels tended to be a protective factor in certain skin diseases.

Discovering novel hub genes and pathways associated with the pathogenesis of psoriasis

In-depth analysis on the rambling genes of psoriasis may help to identify the pathologic mechanism of this disease. However, this has seldom been performed. Using bioinformatic approaches, we analyzed four gene expression profiles in gene expression omnibus (GEO) database, identified the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and found out the overlapping DEGs (common DEGs, CDEGs) in the above four profiles. The CDEGs were further subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, and hub genes were ranked. We identified 139 CDEGs associated with a variety of GO processes including keratinization, immune and inflammatory responses, and type 1 interferon signaling pathway. These CDEGs were enriched in a variety of KEGG processes, including cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and chemokine signaling. PPI analysis showed that seven genes (HERC6, ISG15, MX1, RSAD2, OAS2, OASL, and OAS3) were likely the novel hub genes of psoriasis. RT-qPCR identified that five (ISG15, MX1, OAS2, OASL, and OAS3) of the seven predicted hub genes were overexpressed in TNF-α stimulated HaCaT cell lines, a result quite consistent with the predictions. The study provides new information in exploring the mechanisms and therapeutic targets of psoriasis.

Trace elements and oxidative stress status in patients with psoriasis

Introduction

Psoriasis is a common, inflammatory skin disease of which etiopathogenesis is still not explained clearly, however in which trace elements and oxidative stress are considered to play a role.

Aim

To evaluate the serum trace element and oxidative stress levels in patients diagnosed with psoriasis.

Material and methods

A total of 87 psoriasis patients and 60 healthy subjects were included in the study. Serum sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) levels, oxidative stress parameters, ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), catalase (CAT), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and ferroxidase (FOX) activity and an inflammatory marker, C-reactive protein (CRP), were examined in all participants.

Results

IMA, IMA/Albumin (IMA/Alb), CAT, Cu, FOX and CRP levels were found to be significantly higher; Se, Zn and albumin levels were significantly lower in the patient group as compared to the control group. No significant difference was found between groups with regard to Na, K, Ca, P, Mg, Fe and MPO levels.

Conclusions

Some trace element levels and oxidant-antioxidant balance were changed in psoriasis patients.

Diet and Skin Aging-From the Perspective of Food Nutrition

We regularly face primary challenges in deciding what to eat to maintain young and healthy skin, defining a healthy diet and the role of diet in aging. The topic that currently attracts maximum attention is ways to maintain healthy skin and delay skin aging. Skin is the primary barrier that protects the body from external aggressions. Skin aging is a complex biological process, categorized as chronological aging and photo-aging, and is affected by internal factors and external factors. With the rapid breakthrough of medicine in prolonging human life and the rapid deterioration of environmental conditions, it has become urgent to find safe and effective methods to treat skin aging. For diet, as the main way for the body to obtain energy and nutrients, people have gradually realized its importance to the skin. Therefore, in this review, we discuss the skin structure, aging manifestations, and possible mechanisms, summarize the research progress, challenges, possible directions of diet management, and effects of foodborne antioxidants on skin aging from the perspective of food and nutrition.