Etanercept for Treatment-Resistant Psoriasis
Title: Refractory psoriasis treatment with etanercept
Author: Mahiques Santos L, et al.
Publication: Med Clin (Barc). 2005 Sep 24;125(10):371-3.
Etanercept is a protein that binds to tumor necrosis factor and
blocks inflammatory response. The authors wanted to see whether
etanercept can treat severe psoriasis that was resistant to conventional
treatment.
The authors enrolled 22 patients and gave them etanercept 50
mg/week via injection for 6 months. The severity of the patients’
psoriasis was evaluated every month by PASI or Psoriasis Assessment
and Severity Index.
The authors found that 96% of the patients have improved PASI
scoring at early week 12 and this was maintained until week 12.
Etanercept was well tolerated without any significant side effects.
The authors found that the patients had an average time until
relapse of psoriasis of 2.27 +/- 0.59 months.
The authors concluded that etanercept seemed to be an effective
therapy for severe cases of psoriasis that were refractory or
resistant to other forms of treatments. However, they cautioned
that long-term dosing and safety of etanercept in psoriasis were
still needed.
Editor’s Note: Tumor necrosis factor is a protein
produced by immune cells called macrophages, in response to toxins.
It has been shown to be capable of attacking and destroying cancerous
tumors.
