THE ESSENTIAL
- Psoriasis is a common, chronic inflammatory skin disease that currently cannot be cured.
- Psoriasis is characterized by red, scaly patches on the skin.
- Inserm researchers believe they have found a new way to treat psoriasis.
According to a new study carried by French researchers from Inserm, the iron hormone called “hepcidine” could one day help treat psoriasis.
“Hepcidin plays a key role in the development of psoriasis”
To reach this conclusion, the team of scientists first showed that hepcidin was expressed in the skin of patients with psoriasis, particularly in severe forms.
In order to study the role of hepcidin in psoriasis more precisely, she then developed new mouse models in which the hepcidin gene was specifically inactivated or overexpressed in the epidermis. The specialists then showed that when the hepcidin gene was activated, certain characteristics of psoriasis were induced, in particular skin lesions and the recruitment of neutrophils in the epidermis. Conversely, when the gene was inactivated, the psoriasis markers disappeared.
“Hepcidin plays a key role in the development of psoriasis. From our results, we show that during the onset of psoriasis, hepcidin produced by the epidermis plays a crucial role in the retention of iron in skin cells,” explains Carole Peyssonnaux, Inserm research director at the Cochin Institute. “Since iron is an essential metal for cell proliferation, this retention of iron promotes the division of cells in the epidermis of psoriatic skin,” she adds.
“On the other hand, hepcidin-mediated iron retention also contributes to neutrophil recruitment, another hallmark of psoriatic skin lesions,” she completes.
Psoriasis: new drugs to block hepcidin
The next step would be to further explore these findings with a view to developing drugs that block the action of hepcidin and could therefore be beneficial to patients with psoriasis, particularly those suffering from an acute and resistant form.
With this in mind, the team is currently developing new drugs capable of neutralizing hepcidin in order to test them in animal models of psoriasis.
“In the future, if our results prove conclusive, such drugs could be used as maintenance therapy after a flare-up or during remission phases to prevent the disease from recurring. Further studies will determine whether hepcidin also plays a role in other inflammatory skin diseases,” concludes Carole Peyssonnaux.
How does psoriasis manifest itself?
Often very badly experienced by patients, psoriasis is a common* and chronic inflammatory disease. Despite numerous treatment options available to improve patient care, it remains today a pathology that cannot be definitively cured.
Characterized by red plaques covered with scales, psoriasis manifests itself by an excessive proliferation of epidermal cells as well as an excess of immune cells in the skin accompanied by a local inflammatory reaction.
*Psoriasis affects 2 to 3% of the world’s population.
