What is new in the therapy of psoriasis

Overview

Oral therapy of moderate-to-severe forms of psoriasis with cytostatic orimmunosuppresive drugsleads in a number of cases to the development of serious side-effects which necessitate its interruption.Recent time, however, brings about new possibilities of systemic therapy of the disease, notaccompanied with the risk of the developmentof liver, kidney orhematological toxicity. In our paper,several substances tested over last years are introduced, belonging to the group of immune modulators,mostly monoclonal antibodies or fusion proteins, whose anti-psoriatic effectiveness is considerableand side-effects are either wholly absent or only minimal.The author points beside this to the beneficial effect of topical therapy of the disease, especiallyof its moderate form, with tacrolimus (F-506) ointment. This immunosuppressive drug has beennotoriously known as hazard when given orally because of its many unwanted organ effects.

Key words:
psoriasis - psoriasis therapy - anti-psoriatic drugs - immune modulators