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The pathophysiology of psoriasis

  • Chapter
Treatment of Psoriasis

Part of the book series: Milestones in Drug Therapy ((MDT))

Abstract

The past 25 years of research and clinical practice have revolutionized our understanding of the pathogenesis of psoriasis as the dysregulation of immunity triggered by environmental and genetic stimuli. Psoriasis was originally regarded as a primary disorder of epidermal hyperproliferation. However, experimental models and clinical results from immunomodulating therapies have refined this perspective in conceptualizing psoriasis as a genetically programmed pathologic interaction between resident skin cells, infiltrating immunocytes and a host of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines and growth factors produced by these immunocytes. Two populations of immunocytes and their respective signaling molecules collaborate in the pathogenesis: innate immunocytes, mediated by antigen presenting cells (including natural killer T lymphocytes, Langerhans cells and neutrophils) and acquired or adaptive immunocytes, mediated by mature CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in the skin. Such dysregulation of immunity and subsequent inflammation is responsible for the development and perpetuation of the clinical plaques and histological inflammatory infiltrate characteristic of psoriasis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School New Jersey, New Jersey, 08902, USA

    Marissa D. Newman

  2. Department of Dermatology, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center and Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, 10025, USA

    Jeffrey M. Weinberg

Authors
  1. Marissa D. Newman
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  2. Jeffrey M. Weinberg
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, 1090 Amsterdam Avenue, Suite 11 D, New York, NY, 10025, USA

    Jeffrey M. Weinberg

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© 2008 Birkhäuser Verlag/Switzerland

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Newman, M.D., Weinberg, J.M. (2008). The pathophysiology of psoriasis. In: Weinberg, J.M. (eds) Treatment of Psoriasis. Milestones in Drug Therapy. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7724-3_2

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