Psoriasis patients can hope that drugs that block the activity of VEGF "anti-VEGF" therapies may one day be used to treat psoriasis, much the same way that anti-VEGF therapies are currently being tested in clinical trials as a cancer treatment.
"This important paper by Young and colleagues provides additional insight into the multiple genetic polymorphisms that likely determine the occurrence and severity of psoriasis," said David A. Norris, M.D., chairman of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver and chairman of the Psoriasis Foundation's Scientific Review Committee. "The finding of polymorphisms in the VEGF gene relating to susceptibility to psoriasis reinforces the concept that angiogenesis is an important component of the psoriasis phenotype, and indicates that multiple genes (including those controlling the immune response, keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation, and angiogenesis) might determine susceptibility to psoriasis."
The Young et al paper is called "Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in Psoriasis of Early Onset."
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Contact: Michael Paranzino
mike@psoriasis.org
202-253-4863
National Psoriasis Foundation
3-Jan-2004