Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
    • Podcast
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
    • Podcast
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Exploring High Cholesterol’s Link with Psoriasis
Disease Discoveries

Exploring High Cholesterol’s Link with Psoriasis

By Kevin McCulloughJun 8, 2017
Share
Facebook Twitter Email
Chyung-Ru Wang, PhD, Microbiology-Immunology, FSM.
Chyung-Ru Wang, PhD, professor of Microbiology-Immunology, was the senior author of the study that explored the link between hyperlipidemia and psoriasis.

A new Northwestern Medicine study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has demonstrated how a specific class of immune cells represent a previously unknown link between high cholesterol and the development of symptoms characteristic of psoriasis.

Scientists have long known that patients with psoriasis — an inflammatory disease that causes itchy, dry and red skin — often have high cholesterol levels, also known as hyperlipidemia. Up until now, however, the cause of this association has been poorly understood.

In the current study, Chyung-Ru Wang, PhD, professor of Microbiology-Immunology, and her colleagues created a strain of mice that contain a category of immune cells called self-lipid reactive T-cells, and also have higher-than-normal amounts of cholesterol in the blood.

“To our surprise, these mice spontaneously developed skin lesions, which were caused by the activation of self-lipid reactive T-cells only under conditions of hyperlipidemia. The skin disease closely matched the symptoms and progression of psoriasis in humans,” Wang said.

The findings, according to the authors, may represent an important link between the presence of high cholesterol and the development of psoriasis, a connection that has not previously been explained.

In a separate experiment, Wang and her team examined blood samples from human patients with a psoriasis diagnosis, and found that the levels of those same self-lipid reactive T-cells were elevated in those patients, compared to those without psoriasis.

Taken together, the scientists say the findings of the study are important because they may point to why hyperlipidemia might be linked to the onset of some autoimmune diseases, like psoriasis. Identifying and targeting the antigens that provoke the T-cells in question may represent a future avenue for developing treatments for psoriasis and other hyperlipidemia-associated inflammatory diseases.

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health R01 AI05746, R21 HL112186, R21 AI117238, and a pilot and feasibility grant from the Skin Disease Research Center at Northwestern University (5P30AR057216-08).

Allergy & Immunology Dermatology Research
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Hospitals Bound to Patient Safety Rules that Aren’t all Backed by Evidence

Jun 24, 2022

Identifying Protein Interactions that Promote Cancer Growth

Jun 24, 2022

Calcium Channel Blockers May Improve Chemotherapy Response

Jun 21, 2022

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Hospitals Bound to Patient Safety Rules that Aren’t all Backed by Evidence

Jun 24, 2022

Identifying Protein Interactions that Promote Cancer Growth

Jun 24, 2022

Combination Treatment May Improve Quality of Life in Kidney Cancer

Jun 23, 2022

Calcium Channel Blockers May Improve Chemotherapy Response

Jun 21, 2022

Expanded Role for Calcium Channels in T-Cells

Jun 17, 2022
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0070
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0066
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0054
Northwestern University 2022. Photo by Jim Prisching
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0077
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0063
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0111
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0083
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0018
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0023
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0072 (2)
20220607_Feinberg Campus_0120

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2022 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.