How to tackle psoriasis using nanotechnology

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune skin disorder that causes the skin to multiply up to 10 times faster than normal. This makes the skin build up into bumpy red patches covered with white scales. They can grow anywhere but mostly appear on the scalp, elbows, knees and lower. 

Although we cannot definitively say that it is a hereditary disease, it is related to both genetic and environmental factors such as stress, smoking, infections, etc and even though it is not a life-threatening condition, it does have an impact on both the physical and emotional spheres of a human being.

The treatment of Psoriasis is usually approached by using a topical treatment with glucocorticoids, i.e. drugs that reduce inflammation and the local immune response. In more severe cases of widespread psoriasis, phototherapy with ultraviolet radiation may be used and in very severe cases, immunosuppressive drugs are given orally.

However, taking medication orally over long periods of time can expose you to possible side effects and given the immunosuppressive nature of these drugs, the side effects can cause detrimental damage to the immune system’s ability to defend itself. This, in turn, makes patients highly susceptible to infectious diseases and tumours. 

In general, these particular drugs don't pass through the skin easily. Except when it comes to high amounts of steroids as used for the treatment of psoriasis.

Considering that psoriasis can be very widespread, the drug is applied over a very large area, and continuously. This means that sufficient quantities are incorporated into the blood to give rise to significant unwanted effects.

At the University of Valencia, a group of scientists have been working on finding a new formula to treat psoriasis. 

The drug of choice was cyclosporine, which is approved for the treatment of psoriasis. It is not exactly small, as the maximum limit for a drug to pass through the skin (500 Da) is less than half its weight (approximately 1,200 Da). Therefore, administering it through the skin is a major challenge.

They tried administering the drug in the form of classic creams but were unable to get it through to the area of skin where psoriasis is generated. To overcome this, they designed nanotechnology-based delivery systems called liposomes, which were prepared with components very similar to those in the skin, in addition to other common substances in cosmetics.

Thanks to these liposomes they managed to get the drugs into the tissue where they should act. More importantly, in vitro tests have shown that the amount of liposomes that reach the bloodstream is so small that there appear to be very few side effects. This work has been published in the journal Drug Delivery and Translational Research.