429 Spirulina use and its temporal association with dermatomyositis exacerbation

The immunostimulatory effects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may lead to the exacerbation of autoimmunity. As a result, there is a need to characterize the temporal association between immunostimulatory CAM use and autoimmune skin diseases. We performed a nested retrospective study of prospectively-collected CAM usage data at UPenn. Patients with dermatomyositis (DM), cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), autoimmune blistering disease (AIBD), and healthy controls (HC) without autoimmune disease were surveyed for history of immunostimulatory CAM usage (Spirulina, Chlorella, Alfalfa, Green Algae, Echinacea) and dates of autoimmune disease onset/flare.
Source: Journal of Investigative Dermatology - Category: Dermatology Authors: Tags: Patient-Targeted Research Source Type: research