While topical medications remain the cornerstone of the psoriasis treatment paradigm, they also come with the risk of multiple side effects. An alternative topical treatment option, calcipotriene or calcipotriol, is a vitamin D derivative that is thought to work by inhibiting keratinocyte proliferation and enhancing keratinocyte differentiation. Multiple studies have demonstrated its efficacy a...

BACKGROUND Topical corticosteroid or corticosteroid/calcipotriol preparations are recommended first-line topical treatments of psoriasis, but a main cause for the lack of efficacy of topical treatments is considered low rates of adherence to topical drugs. Patient support by the use of applications (apps) for smartphones is suggested to improve medical adherence. METHODS/DESIGN Design: An inv...

Actinic keratosis (AK) is a precursor to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Effective therapeutics eliminate AKs and prevent SCC are lacking. Long treatment durations severe side effects have limited the efficacy of cytotoxic AK treatments including 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy photodynamic therapy. Previously, we shown that thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), an epithelium-derived...

Alopecia areata (AA) is an inflammatory hair loss of unknown etiology. AA is chronic and relapsing, and no effective cure or preventive treatment has been established. Vitamin D was recently reported to be important in cutaneous immune modulation as well as calcium regulation and bone metabolism. It is well known that areata is common clinical finding in patients with vitamin D deficiency, vita...

BACKGROUND Psoriasis causes worldwide concern because of its high-prevalence, as well as its harmful, and incurable characteristics. Topical therapy is a conventional treatment for psoriasis vulgaris. Chinese medicine (CM) has been commonly used in an integrative way for psoriasis patients for many years. Some CM therapies have shown therapeutic effects for psoriasis vulgaris (PV), including re...

BACKGROUND Effective and safe products are needed for long-term management of scalp psoriasis. This study investigated the long-term safety and efficacy of a two-compound formulation (calcipotriol 50 microg/g plus betamethasone dipropionate 0.5 mg/g) for scalp psoriasis. METHODS In this 52-week, international, double-blind study, 869 patients with moderate-to-severe scalp psoriasis were rando...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D has been reported to regulate innate immunity by controlling the expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). OBJECTIVE We investigated the effect of calcipotriol on the expression of AMPs in human cultured keratinocytes. METHODS Keratinocytes were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), TNF-alpha, Calcipotriol and irradiated with UVB, cultured, and harvested. To assess ...