Antimicrobial peptides in patients with anorexia nervosa: comparison with healthy controls and the impact of weight gain

Abstract Clinical observations show that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) are surprisingly free from infectious diseases. There is evidence from studies in Drosophila melanogaster that starvation leads to an increased expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). AMPs are part of the innate immune...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Marie-Christin Bendix, Michael Stephan, Mariel Nöhre, Wally Wünsch-Leiteritz, Hagen Schmidt, Gisa Tiegs, Jürgen Harder, Martina de Zwaan
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/f9a653f806b144c595cad39dd44b791d
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Clinical observations show that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) are surprisingly free from infectious diseases. There is evidence from studies in Drosophila melanogaster that starvation leads to an increased expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). AMPs are part of the innate immune system and protect human surfaces from colonization with pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi. We compared the expression of AMPs between patients with AN and healthy controls (HC) and investigated the influence of weight gain. Using a standardized skin rinsing method, quantitative determination of the AMPs psoriasin and RNase 7 was carried out by ELISA. Even though non-significant, effect sizes revealed slightly higher AMP concentrations in HC. After a mean weight gain of 2.0 body mass index points, the concentration of psoriasin on the forehead of patients with AN increased significantly. We could not confirm our hypotheses of higher AMP concentrations in patients with AN that decrease after weight gain. On the contrary, weight gain seems to be associated with increasing AMP concentrations.