A longitudinal observational study evaluating liver disease prevalence in psoriatic disease (skin and/or joint) before and after disease-modifying treatment

Research summary

Patients with psoriatic disease have a much higher risk of developing non-alcoholic liver disease. This causes significant impact on their life and is a difficult clinical problem as some therapies for psoriasis and arthritis may worsen the liver disease. Previously the only tests available have been blood tests (which are often normal until the liver is quite damaged) or a liver biopsy (an invasive and risky procedure which only takes a very small sample of the liver). Our colleagues have developed and tested a new type of MRI scan which can measure inflammation and scarring in the liver allowing us to study liver disease in detail. We want to use this new technology to study the proportion of people with psoriasis who may also have associated liver disease and measure how severe this is. We will use blood, urine and stool samples to study why and how the liver disease develops in many people with psoriatic disease. We will repeat the scans and research samples after 6 months on a new treatment to see how common psoriasis treatments affect both inflammation and scarring in liver disease.

Principal Investigator

Prof Laura Coates

Contact us

Email: gail.lang@ndorms.ox.ac.uk

IRAS number

274846