jxstern

http://www.drugresearcher.com/news/news-NG.asp?id=48804

UK scientists uncover psoriasis gene
Small molecules for psoriasis

- 05/01/2004 - Sufferers of the skin disease psoriasis may be
predisposed to developing the condition because they carry a mutation
in the gene coding for protein called vascular endothelial growth
factor, according to UK researchers.

The scientists, working at Manchester University in the UK and led by
Helen Young, report in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (3
January issue) that certain genetic mutations (single nucleotide
polymorphisms or SNPs) that occur in the VEGF gene are seen more
frequently in a subset of psoriasis sufferers.

This ties in with earlier research showing that some elements of the
vascular system are altered in the skin of people prone to the
disease, and that VEGF itself is found in high concentrations in
psoriatic skin lesions.

The hope is that drugs that can block the activity of VEGF may have a
role to play in the treatment of psoriasis. A number of drugs that
work via this mechanism are already in trials for the treatment of
certain types of cancer, including Novartis and Schering’s PTK787 and
Regeneron/Aventis’ VEGF Trap.

In an editorial accompanying the new study, Michael Detmar of the
Cutaneous Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston, US, writes:"Together with the biological evidence for a
pathogenetic role of VEGF in psoriasis, the study by Young et al
suggests that VEGF acts as a modifier gene in psoriasis and that
the****utic blockade of the VEGF/VEGF receptor system might represent
a novel, pharmacogenomic approach for the future treatment of
psoriasis."

jxstern

Here's more, relating the VEGF factor to antiangiogenesis work done to
fight cancer tumors.

J.

jxstern

Geez look at this a dedicated website, tho it targets cancer not
psoriasis.

http://www.targetvegf.com/targetvegf/pathwaysLandscape.m

Pretty pictures, links and tutorials, great googley-moogley!

(brought to you by Genentech)

Well Genentech, get on it for us psoriasis folks, hey?

J.

stranglerw

J. quoted:


Guess I'll have to update my angiogenesis article soon, eh?

http://psorsite.com/docs/angio.html

- Dave W.
http://psorsite.com/

ranhub11

Just to keep the basket of P genes in order, NO less.
A clearer picture of T helPer cells would be nice.

Well, its still an exlnt page. Fix those links, please!
None of the ten or so references i tried would open for me.

This caught my attention,

"(If I may speculate for a moment, perhaps the dense capillaries left
over are responsible for the often-experienced hyperpigmentation -
dark spots - left over after other psoriasis symptoms vanish from a
patch of skin). "

One of the reasons i've avoided MTX was the darkish skin where the
whitish stuff had been. Can we say, oh so vain. It did keep
me looking at the sharkish alt cures et al. Even way back yonder
P and cancer seemed to be at logger heads with each other.
Apoptotic suicidal flakes are light years from tumorous
immortal cancer cells.

You could dress the page up with some Th1/Th2 pathways.
Cancer being the 2 and P the big number 1, for you newbies.
Twenty five years ago i felt the answer to the cancer
riddle would be easier understood, once the P puzzle
was put to-gether. Looks like the two are fliP sides of
the immunity coin and bound to be figured out simultaneously.

Thanks to researchers like Dr. Helen Young and more.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12570799&dopt=Abstract
[snip] Th1 or Th2 cytokines may control angiogenesis directly, by
acting on cell growth and differentiation, indirectly by inducing the
release of other cytokines in the microenvironment, and by modulating
the expression of specific receptors, involved in the control of
angiogenic processes, such as EC proliferation and migration. In this
review we will mainly discuss the role of Th1- and Th2-type cytokines
in the angiogenic process, emphasizing the complexity of the cytokine
and leukocyte/EC network, and highlighting the care that needs to be
taken when designing new the****utic interventions involving Th1 and
Th2 cytokines.


If there is a cancer the idea is to induce Th1 away from Th2.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11576465&dopt=Abstract
The isotype of the antibody response to HER2/neu is consistent with a
switch from a Th2 to a Th1 immune response and the infiltration of
mononuclear cell in tumors from mice treated with mscIL-12.her2.IgG3.
Immunohistochemistry reveals that mscIL-12.her2.IgG3 is
antiangiogenic. Thus, the mechanism of the antitumor activity
exhibited by mscIL-12.her2.IgG3 is highly complex and involves a
combination of T and NK cell activity, a switch to a Th1 immune
response, and antiantiogenic activity.

In P we either have a strong APC or a LPS response downstream, or
probably both.
Regardless, the Th1 type itself still isn't nailed down.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14707118&dopt=Abstract
[snip] psoriasis, a Th1 type of human inflammatory disease.


Are the Psoriasis genes the determining factor for Th1?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14678257&dopt=Abstract

In this P basket case we may need sharks with Laser Beams attached
to their heads. So as to zaP the stinking patches of psor heads.


Untill then we could dress those poor exPloited sharks uP with
pyramid caPs.

But, what about the JETs in this romantic P tragedy?


Oh, i give your page a 95 on a _scale_ of 100. The
effort was there. But whose the lead scientist
in that P iL-23 abstract uP above? <BEG>

stranglerw

Thanks for reminding me that I still needed to update my PubMed links. They
should work now.

- Dave W.
http://psorsite.com/