Acta Pharm. 69 (2019) 511-523

 

full paper

Mini-review

 

A modern approach to the treatment of plaque psoriasis

DANIELA LEDIĆ DRVAR, TOMISLAV VLAHINIĆ, ŽELJAN MALEŠ, PETRA TURČIĆ and ROMANA ČEOVIĆ

dledic@kbc-zagreb.hr

1 Department of Dermatology and Venereology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, School of Medicine University of Zagreb, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

2 Department of Infectious Diseases and Dermatovenereology, Dubrovnik General Hospital, HR-20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia

3 University of Zagreb Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

4 University of Zagreb Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Department of Pharmacology, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Accepted June 23, 2019

Published online September 5, 2019

 

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease which affects 0.5–1 % of children and 2–3 % of the adult population. In Croatia, 1.6 % of the population suffer from psoriasis. Distribution of the disease is bi-modal, with the first peak at the age of 20–30, and the second at the age of 50–60. The etiopathogenesis of the disease is multifactorial, the key factors being genetic predisposition combined with immunological disorders, environmental factors and skin barrier damage. There are several clinical variants of the disease. The main signalling pathways in psoriasis include TNF-α, IL-23 and IL-17. Topical agents are used for the treatment of the mild form, and the systemic conventional therapy is used for the treatment of moderate to severe forms of the disease. In cases where’s no response, or intolerance or contraindications are present, new targeted medications are to be administered. Development in the field of immunogenetics of psoriasis leads to personalized medicine.

 

Keywords: psoriasis, topical treatment, conventional systemic therapy, small molecules, biologicals