New clinical treatment guidelines for plaque psoriasis, written by a panel of 16 Canadian dermatologists, were recently published online. These Canadian Guidelines for the Management of Plaque Psoriasis are evidence based and free of any influence from corporate sponsors and have been endorsed by the Canadian Dermatology Association (CDA). The Guidelines offer treatment recommendations for mild...

The benefits of vitamin D derivatives for the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis are well documented. Of importance is how compatible they are with, and how they compare to, other established treatments for psoriasis. This paper reviews 15 studies with calcitriol 3 μg g(-1) ointment (Silkis(®)/Vectical(™) ointment; Galderma Laboratories) applied twice daily for up to 52 weeks. The ointment w...

NEW DRUGS Efalizumab for Plaque Psoriasis Genentech, Inc., and Xoma, Ltd., have announced the approval of efalizumab (RaptivaTM) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of chronic, moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults age 18 or older who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. This is the first biological agent that is designed to provide continuou...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the extent antibodies to adalimumab are formed in patients with plaque psoriasis and whether these antibodies have clinical consequences. Also, to examine the relationship between antibodies to adalimumab and adalimumab trough titers. DESIGN Prospective observational cohort study. SETTING Two Dutch dermatology departments in university hospitals. PATIENTS All con...

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory cutaneous disorder affecting 2%-4% of the world's population. The prevalence of the disease in childhood and adolescence ranges between 0.5% and 2%. The management of psoriasis in adolescence is an intriguing and complicated task. Given the paucity of officially approved therapies, the very limited evidence-based data from randomized controlled trials, and th...

BACKGROUND The assessment of the severity of psoriasis is often subjective because of the lack of quantitative laboratory diagnostic tools. Histopathological examination is the most commonly performed procedure for psoriasis diagnosis; however, it is usually descriptive. Thus, there is currently no quantitative method of determining psoriasis severity. The clinical types of psoriasis are correl...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Whether inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] is associated with specific psoriasis phenotypes is undefined. In a case-control prospective study, we aimed to assess the severity and phenotype of psoriasis in IBD vs matched non-IBD controls with psoriasis [non-IBD]. METHODS From 2011 to 2013, dermatological assessment was performed in all IBD patients showing lesions requiring c...

BSA: body surface area INTRODUCTION Psoriasis is a cutaneous, chronic inflammatory disorder that affects approximately 3.1% of US adults younger than 60 years and up to 2.1% of children worldwide. Chronic plaque psoriasis is generally the most common type of childhood psoriasis (accounting for 74% of cases in one study), followed by guttate psoriasis (9.7%-28.9%), which is often triggered by st...

Psoriasis is probably a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease. Infectious models of autoimmune diseases have been proposed and in psoriasis, it has been suggested that there may be molecular mimicry between streptococcal antigens and epidermal keratins. The immunological profile of stable psoriasis plaques suggests, however, that viral antigens may be important. We investigated, using polymerase c...