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What causes Plaque Psoriasis?

Medically reviewed by Melisa Puckey, BPharm. Last updated on Sep 26, 2024.

Official Answer by Drugs.com

The way the immune system sends messages to the skin is by releasing small proteins (cytokines) that causes changes to the skin cells. Some of these small proteins that cause plaque psoriasis are called interleukin-12, interleukin-17, interleukin-22, interleukin-23, Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α.

Some medications that treat plaque psoriasis act to block these small proteins.This means instead of the message getting through to cause plaque psoriasis, the message is blocked and the symptoms of plaque psoriasis improves.

These medications are called called interleukin inhibitors and include interleukin-23 antagonist, interleukin-17A antagonist, interleukin-12 and interleukin-23 antagonist and another inhibitor is tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker.

What sets off plaque psoriasis to start with?

The first time you get plaque psoriasis, or for those people who have returning plaque psoriasis, the episode may be triggered by a factor or a combination of factors that start off the immune system reaction. These factors include:

Related questions

What are the risk factors for Plaque Psoriasis?

Anyone can get plaque psoriasis, but there factors that can put you at increased risk:

What does plaque psoriasis look like?

The areas or patches of plaque psoriasis can be:

Summary

Plaque psoriasis is caused by:

References

Advances in Understanding the Immunological Pathways in Psoriasis [Accessed 7/10/2021] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6387410/

Advances in Understanding the Immunological Pathways in Psoriasis [Accessed 7/10/2021] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6387410/
Drug-induced psoriasis: clinical perspectives: [Accessed 7/10/2021] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5774610/
Triggering psoriasis: the role of infections and medications: [Accessed 7/10/2021] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18021899/
Chronic plaque psoriasis: [Accessed 7/10/2021] https://dermnetnz.org/topics/chronic-plaque-psoriasis

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