title: The psoriasis genetics as a model of complex disease.
abstract: Psoriasis [OMIM*177900] is a common, chronic and papulosquamous inflammatory skin disease affecting approximately 2% of Caucasian. However, this disorder is rare among Japanese, Eskimos, West Africans and North American blacks and very uncommon in North American and South American natives. The causes for these variations are likely to be both genetic and environmental. Population-based studies and twin studies indicate that psoriasis is a heritable disease with a polygenic mode of inheritance with variable penetrance. Independent genome-wide scans have suggested the involvement of a large number of chromosomal regions (loci), and many candidate genes have been proposed. We discuss genetic approaches to the disease, results and interpretations of relevant studies, as well as future perspectives. Understanding the genetic basis of psoriasis will represent a major advance in our understanding of the disease and will reveal novel disease-specific biologic pathways.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Excellence for Genomic Risk Assessment in Multifactorial and Complex Diseases, School of Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Emiliano
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giardina
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sinibaldi
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Novelli
mesh_terms: D008040:Genetic Linkage / Q000235:genetics*; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers