Top 4 psoriasis research for 2011

[Eveloftus]

Top 4 psoriasis research
finds of 2011

In 2011, researchers continued their quest to better understand what causes psoriasis and how to treat it. While there is more work to be done, many exciting breakthroughs over the past year have brought experts closer to solving the psoriasis puzzle, says Bruce Bebo, Jr., Ph.D., director of research for the National Psoriasis Foundation.
 
1. A Genetic clue: A team of French researchers identified a single gene mutation that appears to be linked to an inherited form of pustular psoriasis and possibly plaque psoriasis as well. The mutated gene—dubbed the interleukin-36 receptor antagonist—appears to lead to unregulated inflammation in the skin. In time, treatments targeting this gene could lead to new effective therapies for both types of psoriasis.
 
2. More than skin deep: Thanks to state-of-the-art imaging technology, University of Pennsylvania research sponsored by the National Psoriasis Foundation showed that the inflammation that characterizes psoriasis may reach below the skin's surface. The team used whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) to compare inflammation levels in six people with and without psoriasis. As expected, those with psoriasis showed increased skin inflammation, but, surprisingly, the scans also revealed immune responses occurring internally in the liver, joints, kidneys and aortas. Those without psoriasis showed no such immune response. The finding supports a growing body of evidence showing that psoriasis inflammation is more than skin deep and also how psoriasis may be connected to an increased risk of heart, liver and joint disease.
 
3. Gone but not forgotten: A study published by the Rockefeller University in New York City may help explain why plaques that seem to have cleared often return in the same location after treatment ends, sometimes worse than before. A closer look revealed that even when the affected skin cells seemed to have healed, their genetic "fingerprint" remained abnormal three months after treatment with Enbrel. Understanding how these "invisible plaques" linger may help experts develop more effective treatments.
 
4. TNF treatment may help your heart: When researchers from Kaiser Permanente of Southern California compared the heart attack rates of 24,000 people who took drugs called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors to treat psoriasis against those who didn't, they found nearly half (48 percent) had a reduction in heart attack over a four-year period. While more study is needed to establish a direct connection between the two, once again the finding points to the possibility that reducing the inflammation of psoriasis on the skin may also reduce less obvious internal inflammation and help curb the risk of heart disease and other problems.
 
Says Bebo: "Research already underway and studies yet to come will, we hope, build on these discoveries and bring science closer to finding a cure for psoriasis in 2012."
 
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[Eveloftus]

Some of these findings I think are unsettling, like the one that says your inner organs (heart, kidneys) are affected too by psoriasis, your psoriatic defective immune system is also causing inflammation in other organs. That's kind of discouraging.

Also finding number 3 is interesting, an explanation of why your P tends to return in the same locations. It is because the genetic fingerprint of the skin cells in the "healed" plaque remain abnormal, even though they appear normal. 

[Crashed]

This is really interesting. I have have left ventricle failure and after a year of tests they cannot find the cause (i'm only 23) makes you think!

Thanks for the post, it's reassuring to see reasearch being done 

[SallyD]

Thanks for the post, very interesting reading... S x

[steelem]

i got this mail earlier. very  interesting  & also very interesting about the liver and Vit d - for us that react well to sun etc is it the case our livers are in a mess and unable to convert the vit d into the much needed vit d3 - scares me tbh..

[Eveloftus]

Steelem, I don't think the liver would be affected to the point of not producing enough calcidiol. One way to see that is to measure your calcidiol levels. I think if people with psoriasis were to do liver function tests they would mostly be normal.

[Spotted_owl]

Well, some of my thoughts are:

About #1.  Some understanding of the role of RNA has been around for some time.  A Hungarian study from 2005 found what they called the PRINS, which basically stands for an RNA gene induced by stress.

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They may eventually get a good handle on the genetic side of things yet.

About #2.  This really should be intuitively obvious.  One of the factors of a bad outbreak is all the blood pooling around the sites.  The more blood availability, the more agents involved in the psoriasis that will find their way into the bloodstream.  Anything in the bloodstream is going to find its way through the heart.  You have agents of any kind that attack healthy cells, well, you have a good chance of them attacking the heart cells as well.  Also think about how all the blood goes through the liver for screening.  Same principal, with an additional consideration.  If those agents attack the liver and reduce its ability to filter and remove those agents, that means they circulate longer through the remainder of the body.  And are available to attack other sites.  Even if it only reduces liver function by a small portion, that is an increase in the amount of exposure time.  Anything in the blood is sooner or later going to find its way just about everywhere.

About #3, refer to the link in #1.  Rna present in unaffected skin of those afflicted with psoriasis means the potential of it to remain in cleared, but non erupting sites is still going to be there.  That means the PRINS as referred to in that link is ready to do its thing again, probably more readily than before.

About #4, stands in conjunction with what I said about #2.  Any left over agents in the blood (and that can be excess TNF) is going to pass through the heart.  There are bound to be some negative results of this.



This all relates to my preference for controlling my outbreak by trying anything that would reduce the inflammation I was suffering and by going with something that does have some research demonstrating improvement / protection of the liver.  I still think the preferred approach for control in the long run is not directly suppressing the immune system, but rather by either trying to bring it back into balance or by reducing the severity of the side-effects of the P and/or increasing the ability of the body to deal with those side effects.  As I say, this is a personal preference and personal opinion, but it seems to me most of the standard treatments use way too large of a hammer to deal with the problems.  I think a little more finesse is required.

[Grumpy]

Thanks for posting this article. Very interesting indeed.

Just wondering, how do you get these emails? Are you a member of the National Psoriasis Foundation? Are you in the States or can anyone join?

[steelem]

Yes grumpy it's from npf USA - I'm from uk and a member - probaly the only decent article to come out tbh