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Review
. 2013 Jul 1:2013:980419.
doi: 10.1155/2013/980419. Print 2013.

Promising new treatments for psoriasis

Sarah Dubois Declercq  1 , Roxane Pouliot
Affiliations
Review

Promising new treatments for psoriasis

Sarah Dubois Declercq et al. ScientificWorldJournal. .

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic, proliferative, and inflammatory skin disease affecting 2-3% of the population and is characterized by red plaques with white scales. Psoriasis is a disease that can affect many aspects of professional and social life. Currently, several treatments are available to help control psoriasis such as methotrexate, ciclosporin, and oral retinoids. However, the available treatments are only able to relieve the symptoms and lives of individuals. The discovery of new immunological factors and a better understanding of psoriasis have turned to the use of immunological pathways and could develop new biological drugs against specific immunological elements that cause psoriasis. Biological drugs are less toxic to the body and more effective than traditional therapies. Thus, they should improve the quality of life of patients with psoriasis. This review describes new psoriasis treatments, which are on the market or currently in clinical trials that are being used to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. In addition, this paper describes the characteristics and mechanisms in detail. In general, biological drugs are well tolerated and appear to be an effective alternative to conventional therapies. However, their effectiveness and long-term side effects need to be further researched.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of biological therapy of psoriasis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of the mechanism of action of the small-molecule inhibitors. Jak: janus kinase; STAT: signal transducing proteins and activator of transcription; STAT-P: phosphorylated STAT (active); PDE 4: phosphodiesterase 4; NF-KB: nuclear factor kappaB; PKC: protein kinases C; DAG: diacylglycerol; cAMP: cyclic adenosine monophosphate; AMP: adenosine monophosphate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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