The scientists, working at Manchester University in the UK and led by Helen Young, report in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (3 January issue) that certain genetic mutations (single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs) that occur in the VEGF gene are seen more frequently in a subset of psoriasis sufferers.
This ties in with earlier research showing that some elements of the vascular system are altered in the skin of people prone to the disease, and that VEGF itself is found in high concentrations in psoriatic skin lesions.
The hope is that drugs that can block the activity of VEGF may have a role to play in the treatment of psoriasis. A number of drugs that work via this mechanism are already in trials for the treatment of certain types of cancer, including Novartis and Schering's PTK787 and Regeneron/Aventis' VEGF Trap.
In an editorial accompanying the new study, Michael Detmar of the Cutaneous Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, US, writes: "Together with the biological evidence for a pathogenetic role of VEGF in psoriasis, the study by Young et al suggests that VEGF acts as a modifier gene in psoriasis and that therapeutic blockade of the VEGF/VEGF receptor system might represent a novel, pharmacogenomic approach for the future treatment of psoriasis."