DENDRITIC CELLS AFFECT ONSET, PROGRESS OF PSORIASIS
Different types of
dendritic cells in human skin have assorted functions in the early and more
advanced stages of psoriasis report researchers in the journal EMBO
Molecular Medicine. The scientists suggest that new strategies to
regulate the composition of dendritic cells in psoriatic skin lesions might
represent an approach for the future treatment of the disease
"We urgently
need new ways to treat psoriasis, treatments that will deliver improved
benefits to patients and reduce the incidence of known side effects for
existing drugs," says EMBO Member Maria Sibilia, a Professor at the
Medical University of Vienna in Austria, and one of the lead authors of the
study. "Our experiments have revealed that increases in the number of
plasmacytoid dendritic cells are important early triggers of the disease while
other types of dendritic cells, the Langerhans cells, help to protect the
balance of the immune response that is established during inflammation of the
skin."
Psoriasis is an
autoimmune disease that affects around 125 million people worldwide. Symptoms,
which include the formation of red inflamed lesions that appear on the skin,
vary from mild to severe. The disease is often associated with other serious
health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and depression.
The researchers
observed an increase in the accumulation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in the
psoriatic lesions of patients as well as in mice that are model organisms for
the study of the disease. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells are a specific type of
immune cell that can infiltrate damaged tissue during the early phase of
psoriasis. In contrast, the levels of another type of dendritic cells known as
Langerhans cells, were significantly decreased in the lesions compared to
healthy skin in humans and mice. If the levels of plasmacytoid dendritic cells
in mice were decreased during the early stages of the disease then the symptoms
of psoriasis were quelled. A similar decrease in Langerhans cells at an early
stage of the disease had no effect. If the levels of Langerhans cells were
reduced at advanced stages of the disease, the symptoms of psoriasis were
exacerbated.
"The changes in
the severity of symptoms we have observed related to changes in the composition
of dendritic cells most likely impact the balance of inflammatory mediators at
the site of disease. It may well be that by inducing favourable compositions of
dendritic cells at the early stages of psoriasis we may be able to help reduce
the effects of psoriasis by achieving a better balance of these mediators at
the site of the disease. Further work is needed before we can say with any
certainty if such an approach will lead to a viable clinical treatment for
psoriasis."
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