Some Good News - Psoriasis Therapy Can Reduce Heart Plaque

A new study shows that common therapy for psoriasis can reduce heart plaque. As reported by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, late-breaking clinical science shows common therapy options for psoriasis (PSO)-a chronic inflammatory skin disease-can help reduce coronary plaque. The authors found that not only do the treatments reduce the volume of the plaque, but also the plaque becomes less inflammatory over time harboring fewer characteristics prone to rupture and cause a heart attack. It is the first-in-human observational study demonstrating that treating remote inflammation in the body can modulate coronary disease. It was presented today at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Scientific Sessions 2018 by Research Fellow Youssef Elnabawi from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

"To see a reduction in coronary plaque after just one year of biologic therapy alone is incredible and very assuring. It's the first time we're seeing treatment of a skin disease with biologic therapy have an impact specifically on plaque in the coronary," said Nehal N. Mehta, MD MSCE FAHA, the Principal Investigator of the study from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "Our study results further emphasize the importance of patients maintaining and treating psoriasis to decrease the risks of adverse cardiovascular events occurring. This also opens the door for us to look at other disease states and see how anti-inflammatory therapy options could impact coronary plaque over time."

The authors of the study note that future, randomized studies are warranted to confirm these observational findings and to better understand how treatment with anti-inflammatory medications modulates coronary plaque volume over time.

At a time when we here a lot about the negative side affects of the current drugs being used to treat psoriasis it is nice to hear that there can be some positives as well.