Psoriasis- New Research results

Kiel, Germany, 19 October 2010  Scientists from Germany, Canada, the United States and China, in three different studies investigating the causes of psoriasis, have discovered ten new risk genes for psoriasis. The German study was carried out under the leadership of Prof. André Franke and Prof. Michael Weichenthal, both from the Inflammation Research Excellence Cluster. It ran for 2.5 years with more than 14,500 study participants – approximately 6,500 psoriasis sufferers and 8,000 healthy subjects. In the study, there was a gene variant found for the first time in the gene TRAF3IP2, which increases the probability of the occurrence of psoriasis. The study is the first German study of this magnitude. The research results appear in Nature Genetics and are published on the website (http://www.nature.com/ng/index.html).

There are presently around 2 million people affected by psoriasis in Germany, or about two to three percent of the total population. The causes of the disease have been entirely ambiguous up to now, triggered through disruptions in the barrier function of the skin as well as through a weakened immune system. In recent years, research has, with increasing frequency, discovered genetic factors that have a promotive effect on the onset of psoriasis. Prof. André Franke, a geneticist at the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology of Christian Albrechts University (CAU) in Kiel, Prof. Michael Weichenthal, a senior physician at the Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology at the CAU in Kiel, and Eva Ellinghaus, a doctoral student of Prof. Franke, as well as 30 further researchers from three countries have, in this internationally-spanning study, looked into the issue of which markers in the genomes of psoriasis patients distinguishes them from those who do not have this disease.

 With success: In the examined 2.3 million SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms), which are tiny genetic variations, the researchers noticed a previously unknown SNP that causes a protein-changing mutation in the genome. This SNP, found more often in psoriasis patients and less often in healthy subjects, brings about an increased susceptibility to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.  Additionally, in cooperation with a U.S. and a Chinese research group, nine further genes were identified, which increase the risk of developing psoriasis.

Prof. Michael Weichenthal explains: “The clarification of the causes for psoriasis is the fundamental prerequisite for a customized therapy for this debilitating disease. The results that were obtained by means of the three studies represent a significant advance in the effort to understand why some people have a dysregulation of the immune system, which fosters psoriasis.”

Prof. André Franke adds: “The new findings help us to better understand the disease and they now give pharmaceutical companies the chance to develop targeted therapies and pharmaceuticals. Although the results are a major step in the research of the disease, we know that we need to figure out more about their genetic causes and – what appears to be even more important – about the environmental factors responsible for the disease. We will continue, with the most modern technology and other perspectives, our attempts to gradually close the gaps.”

Using the genome-wide analysis of SNPs, numerous genes have been identified for a variety of immune disorders. To this point in time, approximately 25 genes for psoriasis have been identified through genome-wide association studies. 

The Inflammation Research Excellence Cluster

The Inflammation Research Excellence Cluster takes a unique interdisciplinary research approach in order to decode the causes of chronic inflammation and to develop therapies for cures. The research association combines the expertise of some 200 geneticists, biologists, nutritionists and doctors of the universities of Kiel and Luebeck, the Research Center Borstel and the Max-Planck-Institut for evolutionary biology, Plön. Several million people in Germany alone suffer from chronic inflammation of the lungs (asthma), skin (psoriasis), intestines (Crohn’s disease) and brain (Parkinson’s disease). The trigger is a malfunction of the immune system: it incessantly activates inflammatory messengers and defence cells, which thereby destroy healthy tissue. The number of people affected increases daily. This phenomenon of modern civilization has become the challenge for medical science in the 21st Century.

The Inflammation Research Excellence Cluster business office:

Dr. Helga Andree, Office Manager, The Inflammation Research Excellence Cluster, Christian-Albrechts-Platz 4, 24118 Kiel, Germany   T: +49-431-880-4850, E: info@inflammation-at-interfaces.de

Pressekontakt:

Susanne Weller, M: +49-172-308 41 36, E: s.weller@weller-media.com