Antibodies for the treatment of psoriasis
The symptoms of psoriasis were eliminated
single use of experimental therapy
Marina Astvatsaturyan, Echo of Moscow
A significant improvement in the condition of many patients with psoriasis was noted after the introduction of human antibodies that block the signaling protein that triggers the entire cascade of immune reactions associated with the disease. By the end of the trials, which were conducted at Rockefeller University and seven other centers, 31 patients who received experimental therapy had, if not a complete disappearance of psoriasis symptoms, then a significant decrease in their manifestations.
"The amazing results that we have achieved using human antibodies directed at the signaling interleukin-23 suggest that we are on the verge of something completely different from the current therapy of psoriasis with lifelong suppression of immunity," quotes the head of the study, head of the Laboratory of Dermatological Research (Laboratory of Investigative Dermatology) James Kruger (James Krueger) and the lead author of the publication in the latest issue of the journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Anti–IL-23A mAb BI 655066 for treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis: Safety, efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and biomarker results of a single-rising-dose, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial – VM) Rockefeller University press release (New antibody therapy dramatically improves psoriasis symptoms in clinical trial – VM). According to the authors, work in this direction can lead to prolonged remission, "in other words, to healing."
A section of the epidermis (outer layer of skin) of one of the patients shows its thickening (left)
and thinning to a normal level eight weeks after treatment (right).
Psoriasis is a debilitating disease in which the immune system malfunctions and it directs its activity to the skin, which is covered with red itchy and scaly spots as a result. In 2004, Kruger and colleagues suggested that interleukin-23, one of the signaling molecules of the immune system related to cytokines, small peptide information molecules that trigger a cascade of interactions that cause inflammatory processes in the skin, excessive growth of skin cells and dilation of blood vessels in it, plays a major role in the development of the disease. The discovery of the role of interleukin-23 led to a number of trials of a new therapeutic approach based on the use of antibodies, but only one compound (BI 655066) turned out to be effective.
It is a human antibody that targets interleukin-23 and prevents it from binding to cellular receptors that normally respond to it. A single administration of such antibodies, according to the authors, caused "rapid, significant and long-lasting clinical improvement in patients with moderate and severe psoriasis." Genetic analysis of skin samples showed that the action of antibodies reduced the level of expression of cytokine genes and other molecules that play a decisive role in psoriasis.
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