New treatment of psoriasis

Study: With antibodies against psoriasis

03/10/2015

Experts estimate that about two to three percent of the world's population is affected by psoriasis. It is a non-infectious, inflammatory skin disease in which the immune system attacks the body's own tissue. In an international study, researchers used an antibody that neutralized a messenger substance in the immune system to completely eliminate the symptoms of psoriasis in some patients, according to the journal „Nature“ to report.

Psoriasis is caused among other things by messenger substance of the immune system
Psoriasis is particularly evident in the severely scaly, pointy to palm-sized areas of the skin, which often occur on the knees, elbows and on the scalp. Not infrequently, the affected areas itch strong. In addition to the skin, the nails and other organs in the form of a systemic disease may be affected. In particular, the joints and associated ligaments, adjacent soft tissues, the eyes, the vascular system and the heart are affected.

The causes of psoriasis have not yet been finally clarified. Researchers, including Tamara Kopp from the Juvenis Medical Center in Vienna and Elisabeth Riedl and Christine Bangert from the Department of Dermatology at the Medical University of Vienna, were able to prove that, inter alia, interleukin-23, a messenger substance of the immune system, which is also used in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis , multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease is involved, plays an important role. In the context of their study, they wanted to find out whether an antibody that abrogates the messenger substance can have a favorable influence on the course of the disease.

Patients have well tolerated anti-psoriasis
In a Phase I clinical trial, 77 subjects with moderate to severe psoriasis of the antibodies „Tildrakizumab "or a placebo injected in varying amounts. „Even the low doses of the antibody worked much better than the placebo, "Bangert told the news agency „APA“. After administration of the high doses, the skin of some patients had even been completely symptom-free.

And: „Tildrakizumab was well tolerated up to the highest doses used. "According to the study results, interleukin-23 is decisively involved in the development and development of psoriasis and a targeted elimination of the messenger substance represents a promising therapeutic option In the meantime, the drug has been successfully tested in a Phase II study, in which the antibody was not injected intravenously at a fixed dose but subcutaneously under the patient's skin, according to Bangert -III study already started, which corresponds to the last step before a possible approval. (Ag)