Heterogeneity of Response to Biologic Treatment: Perspective for Psoriasis

• Published in: Journal of investigative dermatology Vol. 134; no. 1; pp. 18 - 23
• Main Authors: Edson-Heredia, Emily, Sterling, Kimberly L., Alatorre, Carlos I., Cuyun Carter, Gebra, Paczkowski, Rosirene, Zarotsky, Victoria, Maeda-Chubachi, Tomoko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-01-2014; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adalimumab; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - therapeutic use; Antibodies, Monoclonal - therapeutic use; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized - therapeutic use; Biological Products - therapeutic use; Body Mass Index; Comorbidity; Dermatologic Agents - therapeutic use; Etanercept; Humans; Immunoglobulin G - therapeutic use; Infliximab; Life Style; Psoriasis - drug therapy; Psoriasis - epidemiology; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor - therapeutic use; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - therapeutic use; Risk Factors; Ustekinumab
• ISSN: 0022-202X; 1523-1747
• DOI: 10.1038/jid.2013.326

Psoriasis treatment responses are affected by patient characteristics. However, the literature does not contain reviews of factors that affect the response to biologic therapies. We therefore performed a comprehensive literature search to identify papers describing demographic, lifestyle, and clinical factors associated with response to biologic drug therapy in psoriatic patients. We found that age, gender, ethnicity, alcohol consumption, smoking, geographic location, age at diagnosis, duration and severity of psoriasis, and baseline C-reactive protein levels did not consistently affect response to biologic psoriasis therapy. However, increased body mass index (BMI) appears to adversely affect responses. It might therefore be valuable to include BMI as a stratification variable in future studies of psoriasis therapies and to consider a patient’s weight or BMI when selecting a systemic psoriasis treatment.