title: Biological therapy of psoriasis.
abstract: The treatment of psoriasis has undergone a revolution with the advent of biologic therapies, including infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, efalizumab, and alefacept. These medications are designed to target specific components of the immune system and are a major technological advancement over traditional immunosuppressive medications. These usually being well tolerated are being found useful in a growing number of immune-mediated diseases, psoriasis being just one example. The newest biologic, ustekinumab, is directed against the p40 subunit of the IL-12 and IL-23 cytokines. It has provided a new avenue of therapy for an array of T-cell-mediated diseases. Biologics are generally safe; however, there has been concern over the risk of lymphoma with use of these agents. All anti-TNF-alpha agents have been associated with a variety of serious and "routine" opportunistic infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA 95128.
authors.forename: Raja K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Sivamani
authors.forename: Genevieve
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bowen
authors.forename: Siba P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Raychaudhuri
authors.forename: Emanual
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maverakis