There psoriasis it is a widespread condition all over the world, only in the States and Nuti the individuals who suffer from it are 7.5 million. It’s about a autoimmune disease manifesting as patches of red, inflamed skin and painful, scaly rashes. While there are effective treatments for psoriasis, not everyone responds to these therapies, and for many, the relief is temporary.
“These therapies do not reduce the disease by 100% and do not cure the disease “, said the Professor Michael Croft, Ph.D. of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI). “And if you take patients off those drugs, the disease almost always comes back.”
Just Professor Croft along with his team from the LJI Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation discovered how one key protein called TWEAK damages skin cells in psoriasis patients. Their findings, in mice and human skin cell studies, suggest targeting TWEAK may help control the disease.
The results of the Research have been published in the scientific journal Science Immunology.
Psoriasis and targeting of three proteins – here’s what the research says
“We think TWEAK could be considered a potential target for the treatment of psoriasis “, he has declared Rinkesh Gupta, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow at LJI and first author of the research: “It is nice to have this opportunity to develop a new therapeutic option ”.
The findings build on previous work by the Croft Lab showing that TWEAK can interact with the most common type of skin cell, called keratinocyte. By studying TWEAK-deficient mice, the researchers found TWEAK to be an inflammation factor in a mouse model with psoriasis.
The new study shows that TWEAK doesn’t work alone. By studying human keratinocytes, the researchers found that TWEAK binds to two other proteins, called tumor necrosis factors (TNF) and interleukin-17 (IL-17), to trigger inflammation.. This trio appears to control the production of inflammatory molecules and the expression of additional inflammation-associated proteins in patients with psoriasis.
“The fact that they work together suggests that the disease is essentially driven by all three of those particular proteins at the same time,” says Croft. “The main implication is that TWEAK will also be a good drug target, as has already been shown for TNF and IL-17.”
To test this, the researchers used a mouse model with psoriasis to compare how well a TWEAK inhibitor performed with therapies that inhibit IL-17 or TNF.
The results suggest that the team is on the right track. “If you inhibit TWEAK from working on its receptor on keratinocytes, you get the same therapeutic effect as when you inhibit TNF or IL-17“Says Gupta. This discovery is particularly encouraging because TNF And IL-17 both are FDA-approved drug targets for psoriasis.
Although clinical trials in humans remain to be done, Croft sees a future for the TWEAK inhibitors as therapies for many types of skin diseases. “We think TWEAK is involved in skin inflammation in general”, says Croft.
His lab is now studying the role of TWEAK in atopic dermatitis, also called eczema, a very common type of skin inflammation, especially in infants and young children. Croft says that while psoriasis and atopic dermatitis are distinct diseases, they have a few things in common and there aren’t as many good treatments for atopic dermatitis.
“There is certainly much room for improvement in the treatment of patients with Atopic dermatitis”, concluded the scientist.
Atopic eczema (atopic dermatitis) is the most common form of eczema, a condition that causes the skin to itch, dry and crack. Atopic eczema is more common in children, often developing before their first birthday. But it can also develop for the first time in adults.
It is usually a long-term (chronic) condition, although it can improve significantly, or even disappear completely, in some children as they grow. Atopic eczema causes the skin to become itchy, dry, cracked, and sore. Some people only have small patches of dry skin, but others may have inflamed skin that is spread all over the body.
Inflamed skin may turn red on lighter skin and darker brown, purple, or gray on darker skin. This can also be more difficult to see on darker skin. Although atopic eczema can affect any part of the body, it most often affects the hands, the insides of the elbows, the back of the knees, the face and the scalp in children.
The exact cause of atopic eczema is unknown, but it is clear that it does not depend on a single thing. Atopic eczema often occurs in people with allergies. “Atopic” it means sensitivity to allergens. The condition can develop in entire families and often develops alongside other conditions, such as asthma and hay fever.
Symptoms of atopic eczema often have certain triggers, such as soaps, detergents, stress, and bad weather. Food allergies can sometimes play a role, especially in young children with severe eczema. Allergy tests are usually not needed, although they are sometimes helpful in identifying whether a food allergy may be triggering symptoms
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