Psoriatic skin lesions induced by tumor-necrosis-factor-alpha-therapy

A 46-year-old, caucasian woman suffering from Crohn’s disease and a 35-year-old woman suffering from ankylosing spondylitis were treated with the TNFα blocker infliximab and developed psoriasiform skin lesions. The pathophysiology of this paradoxical clinical response as a newly recognized adverse effect of TNFα antagonists is unknown. According to the literature, this type of newly triggered psoriasis may occur any time after initiation of TNFα antagonist therapy and responds to classic antipsoriatic treatment. The phenomenon warrants attention, especially when considering anti-TNFα treatment in various skin diseases besides psoriasis.