Personalized Medicine for Psoriasis Therapy

Certain factors characterize the patients who will benefit most from phototherapy.

Narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) phototherapy is a standard and effective treatment for moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Unfortunately, treatments are inconvenient and time consuming. Moreover, not everyone responds, and many responders relapse shortly after completion of a course of therapy. The ability to identify a priori likely responders would be useful.

Investigators examined 119 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis involving at least 10% of the body surface area. The researchers analyzed clinical and genetic features (including polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor [VDR]) that might predict a favorable response to and long-term remission after NB-UVB. Within 40 treatments, disease cleared in 83% of patients; the median duration of r…

Reviewing Author

Craig A. Elmets, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory board Astellas Pharmaceuticals

EquityVaxin

Grant / Research support NIH; NIH/NCI; Veteran’s Administration; Ferndale Laboratories; Kyowa Hakko Kirin Pharma, Inc.

Editorial boards Cancer Prevention Research; Photodermatology, Photoimmunology, & Photomedicine; UpToDate; eMedicine; Journal of Dermatological Sciences; JAMA Dermatology

Leadership positions in professional societies American Academy of Dermatology (Vice Chair, Committee on Science and Research); Photomedicine Society (Board of Directors)

Craig A. Elmets, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory board Astellas Pharmaceuticals

EquityVaxin

Grant / Research support NIH; NIH/NCI; Veteran’s Administration; Ferndale Laboratories; Kyowa Hakko Kirin Pharma, Inc.

Editorial boards Cancer Prevention Research; Photodermatology, Photoimmunology, & Photomedicine; UpToDate; eMedicine; Journal of Dermatological Sciences; JAMA Dermatology

Leadership positions in professional societies American Academy of Dermatology (Vice Chair, Committee on Science and Research); Photomedicine Society (Board of Directors)