Natural modulation of the intestinal and cutaneous microbiome in patients with psoriasis
Major Gheorghe GIURGIU1, Prof. Dr. Med. Manole COJOCARU2 SciRes I, EuSpLM
1Deniplant-Aide Sante Medical Center, Biomedicine, Bucharest, Romania
deniplant@gmail.com; Telephone: +40744827881
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5449-2712
2Titu Maiorescu University, Faculty of Medicine, Bucharest, Romania
cojocaru.manole@gmail.com; Telephone: +40723326663
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6871-577X
Background Through the modulatory effect on the body’s immune system, the intestinal and skin microbiome exerts influences on skin homeostasis. The microbiome has beneficial effects on the body in conditions of eubiosis, however when dysbiosis occurs, the microbiome can trigger various autoimmune, metabolic, neurological disorders (eg allergies, eczema, asthma, psoriasis, diabetes, central nervous system disorders), these clinical conditions can occur when fragments of microbial DNA cross the intestinal barrier and reach the blood and even the nervous system. Through the use of antibiotics and other drugs, the microbiome can be severely affected by influencing the health of the body. This paved the way for the realization of functional foods (nutraceuticals) with a dual role: nutrition and health, which can naturally modulate the activity of the human microbiome, restore eubiosis, the processes of cell recovery and healing of the body. Although psoriasis has been a disease for hundreds of years, dermatology treats it as a strict skin condition and for this reason treatments are generally aimed at healing damaged skin on the surface. For this reason, the cure for the disease is only partial, with multiple recurrences and extensions. Although attempts are being made to find an effective treatment for the internal causes, this has not been achieved so far and for this reason psoriasis is classified as incurable.
Objective Although modern medicine is trying to modulate the microbiome, to use it for the treatment of some diseases, so far this goal has not been achieved. In the last five years, discoveries in the field of genetics and immunology have led to the initiation of new studies on the role of the intestinal and skin microbiome in patients with psoriasis. In 2019, in collaboration with the Aide-Sante Clinic, a Biomedicine Center was set up where an attempt was made to highlight with medical evidence the possibility of natural modulation of the human microbiome with the help of nutraceuticals. The aim of the paper was to thoroughly review the literature, to discuss the cutaneous and intestinal microbiota and to redefine their role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.
Materials and methods Using natural herbal remedies and fruit tree buds, a natural modulator of the intestinal and skin microbiome has been developed that has been able to slow down and even stop the progression of psoriasis, without ointments or other drugs and without dietary restrictions. Following my own experience, in which I was suffering from psoriasis for 7 years, I found out how traumatic this disease can be and what psycho-affective implications it can have. Although I underwent repeated treatments at the Central Military Hospital from Bucharest, all the lesions disappeared at first, but as the disease became more chronic and the lesions spread to larger areas of the body, even after long-term treatment, the lesions did not completely disappear. The fact that doctors said that this disease is incurable, led me to research solutions in phytotherapy and gemotherapy. After two and a half years of research and testing on my own body, medicinal plants and fruit tree buds have proven to be in my case the only effective remedy against the internal causes that trigger and maintain this disease. After obtaining a patent for a process for obtaining a plant extract for the treatment of psoriasis, we set up the Speranța Medical Foundation in order to support the activities of those who know the secrets of nature in the field of medicine and their implementation for human benefit. Thus, with the help of scientifically used medicinal plants, the research team of the Foundation has shown that certain so-called incurable diseases (for allopathic medicine) can be ameliorated or even cured. Hundreds of psoriasis patients resolved in Romania and dozens of patients abroad, as well as obtaining the gold medal at the ’97 Technical News Salon, demonstrated this discovery. In 2005, the natural remedies I discovered were given a name: ”Deniplant” – The Deniplant brand with the slogan “Health is above all” is registered with OSIM-Romania. Four years later, the Deniplant mark becomes a community trade mark, being registered with OHIM, the current EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office). The use of Deniplant natural remedies by patients undergoing recovery sessions at the treatment base in Sovata, highlighted the fact that by intervening on the skin with water and mud from Lake Ursu, the disease was cured much faster. Seeing these results, the study was started to find an explanation of the phenomena that take place inside the body and that lead to the cure of these diseases. Following for a year the courses organized by Prof. Dr. Med. Manole Cojocaru in which the human microbiome was presented, I came to the conclusion that these natural remedies I discovered act on the human microbiota that influences autoimmune, metabolic and neurological diseases. The use of water and mud from Sovata, salt water from Călimănești-Căciulata or mud from Techirghiol, allowed the modulation of the skin microbiome, triggering the reactions necessary for skin healing. The intestinal microbiome triggers the modulation of the skin microbiome, and if it is influenced from the outside, the results can be amplified. This is also inferred from the fact that in psoriasis when it is treated with ointments or other drugs for external use, the skin microbiome is affected, but in the long run changes at that level can negatively affect the intestinal microbiome and hence those rebound and generalization of the disease.
Results The paper presents new ways to prevent and treat psoriasis by naturally modulating the intestinal and skin microbiome. With the help of phytotherapy and gemotherapy, respectively with medicinal plants and fruit tree buds, acting on the dysbiosis of the intestinal and cutaneous microbiome can intervene on the immune system and the process of apoptosis of epithelial cells and by triggering self-healing reactions in the body, psoriatic lesions disappear by itself. In the last five years, discoveries in the genetic and immunological fields have allowed the initiation of new studies on the role played by the cutaneous and intestinal microbiome in patients with psoriasis. Thus Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes may induce maintenance or exacerbation of psoriasis lesions. An important role in the appearance and maintenance of psoriasis lesions also belongs to the intestinal microbiota through its systemic effects. Studies have shown increased bacterial diversity in patients with psoriasis compared to healthy subjects, with low colonization of Actinobacter and predominant dermal Firmicutes, which may characterize a specific phenotype of chronic inflammation encountered in psoriasis. When intestinal microbiome dysbiosis occurs, gut microbes and metabolites induce regulatory T lymphocyte reactions, which facilitate an anti-inflammatory response. Studies have also been done on the translocation of transgenic DNA fragments into blood samples in patients with psoriasis. This suggests that new foci of psoriasis may be related to the presence of circulating bacterial DNA in the blood from the intestinal lumen. Healthy intestinal bacterial composition can reduce intestinal permeability and the risk of bacterial DNA translocation. In the history of mankind, often after a great discovery, it took many years for decision makers in that field to accept and promote the value of the discovery. The same thing happened with the discovery of the microbiome with which we are contemporaries. Biologist Lederber J (1958) defined the term ”microbiome”, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize at just 33 years old. Why for 50 years, the medical world has not given importance to this discovery and only in 2008 was launched the European project called MetaHIT which led to the discovery that humans are also distinguished by the bacteria that live through them, not just by blood type elements. Ehrlich D, et al (2014), project coordinator at MetaHIT, explained why the microbiome plays an important role in personalized medicine: personalized treatments”. Another microbiologist, Davies J (2001) of the University of British Columbia, states that “the effort to better understand the microbiome is the most important scientific project of all time. In 2018, researchers from three countries, Belgium, the Netherlands and Malta published a well-documented paper on psoriasis and microbiota: ”Psoriasis and Microbiota: A Systematic Review”. However, no natural way to modulate the microbiome was found. Lober CW, et al (1980) reported that suspensions of Malassezia ovalis fungal fragments applied to the unaffected skin of psoriasis patients induced psoriasis plaque formation in 10 tested subjects. In the same year, 1980, when I was hospitalized with psoriasis in the Central Military Hospital from Bucharest, I forcibly removed the psoriasis shells from my head and body and put them under adhesive tape on healthy skin to see what was happening. Well, those placards that looked alive didn’t do anything, they just dried. Maybe I didn’t select those mushrooms mentioned above. A study by Darlenski R, et al (2011) provides information on how to improve psoriasis plaques after treatment with narrowband ultraviolet radiation (NB-UVB), a conventional systemic therapy for the treatment of psoriasis. NB-UVB treatment has already been shown to cause significant changes in the skin microbiota. I also had ultraviolet treatment at the beginning. After the treatment, the skin healed relatively quickly, but when the psoriasis reappeared, the UV therapy did not work and then PUVA rays were used with the ingestion of Psoralen and Meladiline pills (photosensitizers). After several sessions for 45 days, the lesions disappeared, but not all over the body, but only where there were large areas. I agree that after such UV or PUVA treatments when the skin is healed and the skin microbiome returns to normal, but you see, once there are a few more lesions on the body, it means that the skin microbiome is not uniform and in some places remains affected. Personally, I think that until the dysbiosis in the intestinal microbiome is resolved, even if the one in the skin is resolved, the psoriasis is not cured. It’s just that surface solution. Regarding the interaction of microbiotherapy with allopathic treatment, it is stated that: the skin microbiota also interacts locally with local treatment in psoriasis. During the treatment with Deniplant tea, if the patients used cortisone ointments in parallel, at first there was a hurry to heal the lesions, but after a short time the lesions returned to their original stage. In addition, at one point the body did not seem to react well to Deniplant tea due to cortisone. My conclusion was that I don’t go in parallel. The same goes for monoclonal antibody treatments. In the context of psoriasis, the role of diet (often associated with exercise) has often been promoted by virtue of its ability to modulate and improve patients’ psoriasis plaques and the effectiveness of treatment. I also noticed a faster improvement in psoriasis lesions in patients who used Deniplant tea and kept on a diet, either during Easter or Christmas, but when the regimen was stopped, the lesions reappeared. If patients permanently change their lifestyle (food) is good, because those relapses no longer occur. If during treatment with Deniplant tea patients had other medical problems and used antibiotics or other medications, there were also negative changes in psoriasis lesions. Any disturbance of the intestinal microbiome and the immune system also affects psoriasis lesions. Studies by Japanese specialists (Vetizou M, et al. 2015; Nishijima S, et al. 2016) confirm the importance of the intestinal microbiome on antitumor immunotherapy and emphasize the importance of eubiosis. The skin microbiome influences the functions of T cells in the skin by producing IL-2 but also IL-17 (Bentivoglio M et al. 1995) and modulates memory T cells (Takahashi-Iwanaga H, et al. 2003). Dysbiosis of the skin microbiome can be caused by changes in the skin microbiome, alteration of the skin barrier and immune function, but also by dysbiosis of the intestinal mycobiome. Since 2010, researchers have been looking to find oral prebiotics and probiotics that influence the bowel-nervous-skin axis (Wang Y, et al. 2014). Future research will focus on the relationship between the human microbiome and cellular apoptosis in other diseases and the modulation of the intestinal microbiome through dietary restrictions.
Conclusion Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin condition that affects about 3% of the world’s population must be treated multidisciplinary and personalized, the microbiome of each patient being a unique entity that responds particularly to allopathic treatment and natural remedies. The realization of functional foods (nutraceuticals) with a dual role of nutrition and health, is a desideratum of both food producers and those who care for human health, because they can naturally modulate the activity of the human microbiome, restore eubiosis, recovery processes cellular and healing of the body. Although it is known how and where prebiotics and probiotics work, it is necessary to find ways to personalize them according to the medical condition we want to solve, and their recommendation is not generally indicated. Following the patients who used Deniplant tea in parallel and the procedures mentioned above, we concluded that only the modulation of the skin microbiome cannot definitively solve the problem of psoriasis, if it does not intervene on the intestinal microbiome. Therefore, I believe that we are facing a new discovery, namely a natural modulator of the human microbiome. Research has shown that in addition to improving the course of psoriasis, selective modulation of the microbiota can increase the effectiveness of medical treatments and mitigate their side effects.
Keywords: microbiome, psoriasis, autoimmune disease, natural remedies, functional foods (nutraceuticals).