Interleukin‐17A gene single nucleotide polymorphism and its relation to fungal growth in psoriatic patients: A preliminary study

Background Although dysbiosis and the role of the microbiome in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases have been intensively investigated, fungal colonization or infection has received minimal attention. Aims To isolate and identify different fungal species namely Candida, Dermatophytes, Malassezia, and Aspergillus from plaque psoriasis patients, evaluate the association of IL‐17A gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with psoriasis, and to reveal the relation between IL‐17A gene SNPs and the fungal presence within the psoriatic plaques. Patients/Methods Fifty plaque psoriasis patients and fifty healthy age and sex volunteers as controls were enrolled in this study. From psoriatic plaques, mycological isolation was done by direct microscopic examination (10% KOH mount), culture onto the three sets of media then species identification by phenotypic procedures. Genomic DNA extraction and genotyping for IL‐17A (rs10484879) SNPs using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism were also done. Results Psoriasis cases showed higher frequency of fungal growth 86% vs. 14% in controls; (p