Experts discover proteins that may trigger psoriasis – implications for psoriatic arthritis

Scientists believe they have taken a huge leap toward identifying the root causes of psoriasis, dramatically advancing efforts to understand how it develops and how to stop it.
Psoriasis is an autoimmune inflammatory skin condition that affects 125 million people around the world. Around 30–50% of those affected develop psoriatic arthritis.
There are about 50,000 proteins in the human body, but researchers have found that four are most likely to contribute to psoriasis, they report in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.
The next step is to work out the role and significance of each of these proteins in the progression of psoriasis. Then the team hopes to be able to develop strategic targets to change the course of a patient’s psoriasis.
“We are always looking for novel targets or new insight into disease progression, remission or susceptibility,” Dr Nicole Ward, lead author explains.

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