Verneuil's disease, innate immunity and vitamin D: a pilot study

Verneuil's disease is a chronic inflammatory skin disease of the follicles in apocrine glands rich area of the skin (axillary, inguinal, anogenital) and is associated with a deficient skin innate immunity. It is characterized by the occurrence of nodules, abscesses, fistulas, scars. Recently, vitamin D has been shown to stimulate skin innate immunity.

The primary objective of the study was to assess whether Verneuil's disease was associated with vitamin D deficiency. The secondary objective was to determine whether vitamin D supplementation could improve inflammatory lesions.

First, 25(OH) vitamin D3 serum levels in patients with Verneuil's disease followed at Nantes University Hospital were compared to those of healthy donors from the French Blood Bank. Then, a pilot study was conducted in 14 patients supplemented with vitamin D according to their vitamin D level at baseline at months 3 and 6. The endpoints at 6 months were decreased by at least 20% in the number of nodules and in the frequency of flare-ups.

Twenty-two patients (100%) had vitamin D deficiency (level <30 ng/mL) of whom 36% were severely deficient (level <10 ng/mL), having correlation with the disease severity (P = 0.03268) vs. 20 controls with vitamin D deficiency (91%) of whom 14% were severely deficient. In 14 patients, the supplementation significantly decreased the number of nodules at 6 months (P = 0.01133), and the endpoints were achieved in 79% of these patients. A correlation between the therapeutic success and the importance of the increase in vitamin D level after supplementation was observed (P = 0.01099).

Our study shows that Verneuil's disease is associated with a major vitamin D deficiency, correlated with the disease severity. It suggests that vitamin D could significantly improve the inflammatory nodules, probably by stimulating the skin innate immunity. A larger randomized study is needed to confirm these findings.