Retinoic Acid promotes interleukin-4 plasmid-dimethylsulfoxide topical transdermal delivery for treatment of psoriasis.

Background: Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that is caused by a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1-dominant immunity. It has been established as an effective treatment to counteract psoriasis by subcutaneous injection of recombinant interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-4 gene therapy by topical transdermal penetration has shown its antipsoriatic effect in mice. Retinoic acid (RA) and dimethylsulfoxide can increase the efficiency of gene transfection in the topical transdermal delivery system.

A novel transdermal plasmid-dimethylsulfoxide delivery technique for treatment of psoriasis.

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic and relapsing inflammatory skin disease associated with various immunologic abnormalities. Repeated subcutaneous injection of interleukin-4 (IL-4) has been established as an effective treatment to counteract psoriasis.

Objective: We investigated whether gene therapy using IL-4 expression plasmid (pIL-4) via transdermal delivery was an alternative treatment for psoriasis.