The therapeutic possibilities for psoriasis are multiple; they are based on experience and on empiricism and are harmless for the patient, or on the known pharmacodynamic action which limit their use. It should be remembered that psoriasis is not incurable, since it can be treated. But the definitive curative treatment will be discovered only when the cause of the disease is discovered.
The occurrence of ANA in eluates of lymphocytes and polymorphonuclear leucocytes obtained in five untreated psoriasis patients could be demonstrated by means of the indirect immunofloruescence technique. These antibodies appear to be mainly directed against the nuclei of the basal cell layer, however, ANA directed against the nuclei of epidermal and dermal cells have also been encountered. The immunological mechanisms in psoriasis may therefore be looked upon as the result of an alteration in the structure of nucleic acid or nuclear protein of the basal layer cells. Finally psoriasis may be the result of an interplay of various exogenous factors and a special genetical make-up leading to the release of certain nuclear proteins initiating a delayed type immune response at the onset and an Arthus type reaction located in the upper layers of the epidermis at a later stage of the disease, and as a secundary phenomenon the derailment of keratinization. Moreover a slightly decreased mean percentage of circulating lymphocytes forming rosettes with sheep erythrocytes have been found in the patients studied. This slight decrease suggests a diminution of the T-lymphocyte control facilitating the antibody production by B-lymphocytes. The course of events in psoriasis is a self perpetuating inflammatory process.
The therapeutic possibilities for psoriasis are multiple; they are based on experience and on empiricism and are harmless for the patient, or on the known pharmacodynamic action which limit their use. It should be remembered that psoriasis is not incurable, since it can be treated. But the definitive curative treatment will be discovered only when the cause of the disease is discovered.
The authors report a new case of Churg and Strauss allergic angeitis, observed during the patients lifetime. Severe asthma preceded the cutaneous lesions by 16 months. There was an eosinophilia of 66 p. 100 of 21,000 white cells. The histological picture was characteristic. A general review of the literature is made in the light of this case.
