Arthritis drug succeeds vs. psoriasis.The drug infliximab, normally prescribed for arthritis, seems also to work against the chronic skin disease psoriasis. The benefits were akin to those induced by cyclosporin cy·clo·spor·ine also cy·clo·spor·in n. An immunosuppressive drug obtained from certain soil fungi, used mainly to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs. , a potent immune suppressant routinely prescribed for psoriasis. Scientists gave 33 psoriasis patients three intravenous infusions over 6 weeks. A third of the participants received a low dose of infliximab, a third got a high dose, and the rest received a placebo. Four weeks after the last treatment, 19 of the 22 patients getting infliximab had far fewer skin lesions Skin Lesions Definition A skin lesion is a superficial growth or patch of the skin that does not resemble the area surrounding it. Description Skin lesions can be grouped into two categories: primary and secondary. than at the start of the experiment, whereas only 2 of 11 in the placebo group had improved, the researchers report in the June 9 LANCET. Patients' responses to the low and high drug doses were approximately the same. The skin lesions "cleared quickly, in 6 to 8 weeks" after the start of treatment in most patients receiving infliximab, says study coauthor Alice B. Gottlieb, an immunologist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick. The cause of psoriasis, an immune disorder marked by accelerated growth of skin cells, is unknown. The resulting skin lesions can be painful and itchy. Some patients also develop joint damage. Cyclosporin and other drugs allay some symptoms by broadly suppressing the immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. , but they can have severe side effects Side effects Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm. in long-term use, Gottlieb says. In contrast, more than 100,000 patients have taken infliximab for rheumatoid arthritis rheumatoid arthritis Chronic, progressive autoimmune disease causing connective-tissue inflammation, mostly in synovial joints. It can occur at any age, is more common in women, and has an unpredictable course. without serious adverse effects. The drug, sold commercially as Remicade, is a monoclonal antibody monoclonal antibody, an antibody that is mass produced in the laboratory from a single clone and that recognizes only one antigen. Monoclonal antibodies are typically made by fusing a normally short-lived, antibody-producing B cell (see immunity) to a fast-growing that attacks a protein that's made by immune cells called tumor necrosis factor tumor necrosis factor n. Abbr. TNF A protein that is produced in the presence of an endotoxin, especially by monocytes and macrophages, is able to attack and destroy tumor cells, and exacerbates chronic inflammatory diseases. alpha (TNF-alpha). TNF-alpha induces production of certain inflammatory proteins dubbed interleukin-1, -6, and -8. These and other inflammatory molecules show up in high concentrations in the skin lesions common to psoriasis, Gottlieb says. Inflammation also underlies rheumatoid arthritis. Gottlieb is now working on a longer test of infliximab. Preliminary data from that study show that some patients are free of skin lesions more than 6 months after treatment, she says. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion