title: A new therapeutic for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis: apremilast.
abstract: Psoriasis is a common, chronic, inflammatory skin disease. Being a life-long condition, a prolonged and safe control of the disease is needed. Current anti-psoriatic treatments show some limits in terms of tolerability and route of administration. Recently, a new oral small molecule, apremilast, has been approved for the treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Apremilast is a phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor that regulates the transduction of intracellular signals, including pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory pathways. Because of the favorable safety profile and the oral route of administration, apremilast may represent a promising therapeutic target for moderate-to-severe psoriasis. In this review, we report an updated overview about clinical trials testing apremilast in the treatment of psoriasis and seek to provide comprehensive information about this anti-psoriatic drug and a future perspective of the therapeutic algorithm for psoriasis.
authors.affiliation: a Dermatology Department, Department of Systems Medicine , University of Rome Tor Vergata , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiricozzi
authors.affiliation: a Dermatology Department, Department of Systems Medicine , University of Rome Tor Vergata , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Dante
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Caposiena
authors.affiliation: a Dermatology Department, Department of Systems Medicine , University of Rome Tor Vergata , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Garofalo
authors.affiliation: a Dermatology Department, Department of Systems Medicine , University of Rome Tor Vergata , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Vittoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Cannizzaro
authors.affiliation: a Dermatology Department, Department of Systems Medicine , University of Rome Tor Vergata , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chimenti
authors.affiliation: a Dermatology Department, Department of Systems Medicine , University of Rome Tor Vergata , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Rosita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saraceno
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013792:Thalidomide / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D013792:Thalidomide; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4; C505730:apremilast
keywords: Psoriasis; apremilast; oral drug; otezla; phosphodiesterase inhibitor; small molecule