Psoriatic arthritis: embracing pathogenetic and clinical heterogeneity?

Abstract

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a clinically heterogeneous condition of skin, joint, enthesis and bone that provides considerable unmet therapeutic need. Recent treatment advances have offered new opportunities to improve quality of life and long term well being for afflicted patients. It is timely therefore, to consider the underlying heterogeneity inherent in the disease from a pathologic aspect so as to best optimise the choice and order of therapeutic application over time. Herein I will discuss the various contributions made by immune pathways to discrete tissue compartments that in turn might allow a more targeted approach to the management of PsA in which different tissues express variable severity of involvement.