Psoriasis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psoriasis, including details on treatment, prevention, medication, causes.

Alefacept reduces infiltrating T cells, activated dendritic cells, and inflammatory genes in psoriasis vulgaris.

Chamian F, Lowes MA, Lin SL, Lee E, Kikuchi T, Gilleaudeau P, Sullivan-Whalen M, Cardinale I, Khatcherian A, Novitskaya I, Wittkowski KM, Krueger JG

Laboratory for Investigative Dermatology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021.

Psoriasis vulgaris, a skin disease that is considered to be the result of a type 1 autoimmune response, provides an opportunity for studying the changes that occur in a target-diseased tissue during innovative immunotherapies. To gain a more comprehensive picture of the response to an approved biological therapy, we studied alfacept, which is a CD2 binding fusion protein. We examined T cells, dendritic cells (DCs), and expression of a number of inflammatory genes. In 22 patients, 55% demonstrated a clear histological remission of the disease, with a 73% reduction in lesional lymphocytes and a 79% decrease in infiltrating CD8+ cells. Only histological responders showed marked reductions in the tissue expression of inflammatory genes IFN-gamma, signal transducer and activator of transcription 1, monokine induced by IFN-gamma, inducible NO synthase, IL-8, and IL-23 subunits. Parallel decreases in CD83+ and CD11c+ DCs also were measured by immunohistochemistry. Because we observed that alefacept binds primarily to T cells and not DCs, we suggest that T cells are the primary target for therapy, but that DCs and a spectrum of type 1 inflammatory genes are coordinately suppressed.

Published 9 February 2005 in Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 102(6): 2075-80.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Psoriasis Research Today. All Rights Reserved.