Cutaneous manifestations of gastrointestinal disease: part II.

The gastrointestinal (GI) and cutaneous organ systems are closely linked. In part I of this continuing medical education article, the intricacies of this relationship were explored as they pertained to hereditary polyposis disorders, hamartomatous disorders, and paraneoplastic disease. Part II focuses on the cutaneous system's links to inflammatory bowel disease and vascular disorders.

Cutaneous manifestations of gastrointestinal disease: part I.

Cutaneous findings are not uncommonly a concomitant finding in patients afflicted with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. The dermatologic manifestations may precede clinically evident GI disease. Part I of this 2-part CME review focuses on dermatologic findings as they relate to hereditary and nonhereditary polyposis disorders and paraneoplastic disorders.

Intestinal transport of aminopterin enantiomers in dogs and humans with psoriasis is stereoselective: evidence for a mechanism involving the proton-coupled folate transporter.

N-[4-[[(2,4-diamino-6-pterdinyl)methyl]amino]benzoyl]-L/D-glutamic acid (L/D-AMT) is an investigational drug in phase 1 clinical development that consists of the L-and D-enantiomers of aminopterin (AMT). L/D-AMT is obtained from a novel process for making the L-enantiomer (L-AMT), a potent oral antiinflammatory agent. The purpose of these studies was to characterize oral uptake and safety in the dog and human of each enantiomer alone and in combination and provide in vitro evidence for a mechanism of intestinal absorption.

Deep sequencing of small RNAs from human skin reveals major alterations in the psoriasis miRNAome.

Psoriasis is a chronic and complex inflammatory skin disease with lesions displaying dramatically altered mRNA expression profiles. However, much less is known about the expression of small RNAs. Here, we describe a comprehensive analysis of the normal and psoriatic skin miRNAome with next-generation sequencing in a large patient cohort.

Comorbidities in psoriasis patients.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disorder that affects approximately 2% of the general population. Numerous studies have evaluated the increased prevalence of comorbid diseases and risk factors in psoriatic patients, including obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, psoriatic arthritis, autoimmune disease, psychiatric illness, liver disease, smoking, malignancy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sleep apnea, and alcohol abuse. Insight into the overlapping pathogenesis of these comorbidities of psoriasis highlights the importance of immune-mediated mechanisms in these disease states.

The use of ustekinumab in autoimmune disease.

Importance Of The Field: The advent of biologic therapies has revolutionized the treatment of autoimmune diseases including psoriasis, autoimmune arthritides and inflammatory bowel disease. With recent advances in our understanding of the immunogenetic pathways involved in the pathogenesis of these conditions, newer, more targeted biologic therapies have been developed. Ustekinumab is an antibody to the common p40 subunit of IL-12 and IL-23, which has been studied in the treatment of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis.