Results from a Michigan Medicine study reveal that targeting a protein found in the skin may reduce the severity of psoriasis.
Interferons play a major role in activating the body’s response to viral threats, but they have also been detected in the lesions of many psoriasis patients at abnormal levels.
New findings, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, suggest using therapies to modulate interferon states may limit inflammation in psoriasis patients.
“We’ve known that psoriatic inflammation is marked by interferon-related gene expression, but how interferons alter the severity of the disease has not been clear,” said J. Michelle Kahlenberg, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of rheumatology at Michigan Medicine and senior author of the paper. “Understanding how interferon kappa may modulate psoriasis brings us one step closer to optimizing our treatments.”
Some of Dr. Kahlenberg’s work is funded with a Taubman Emerging Scholar grant. One of the paper’s co-authors, Johann Gudjonsson, M.D., Ph.D., also is a Taubman Emerging Scholar.
Read the full report in the Michigan Medicine Health Lab blog.
