Skin Inflammation Controlled By Gatekeeper Signal
A new study unravels key signals that regulate protective and sometimes pathological inflammation of the skin. The research, published online in the journal Immunity by Cell Press, identifies a "gatekeeper" that, when lost, can cause inflammatory skin disease in the absence of injury or infection. The findings may eventually lead to new treatment strategies for the more than 10% of people in the western world that suffer from inflammatory skin diseases. Although the skin typically remains in a "quiet" state, injury or invading pathogens cause skin cells to sound the alarm and mobilize an impressive immune response called inflammation.
Early, Aggressive Treatment May Help Reduce Symptoms And Improve Joint Function In Psoriatic Arthritis PsA
Medications or biologic agents that target T-cells, white blood cells involved in the body's immune system, appear to offer significant benefit to patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a type of arthritis that affects up to 48 percent of patients with the skin disease psoriasis, according to a new review article in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). About 7.5 million Americans - roughly 2.2 percent of the population - have psoriasis, an autoimmune disease that causes red, flaky skin.
FDA Approves Drug For Common Skin Cancer
On Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a new type of drug to treat adult patients with advanced basal-cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer. The drug's generic name is vismodegib and was developed by the US part of Roche Holding AG. It will be sold in the US by Roche's South San Francisco-based Genentech under the brand name Erivedge. Basal cell carcinoma is a slow growing, painless cancer that starts in the epidermis, the top layer of skin. It usually starts in places that are regularly exposed to the sun or UV light.