Efficacy of adalimumab in the treatment of psoriasis: A retrospective study of 15 patients in daily practice

Abstract

Background: Adalimumab is a fully human IgG1 monoclonal antibody that binds to tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a key proinflammatory cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Objective: A single-center, retrospective study was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of adalimumab in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis in daily practice. Methods: The medical records of 15 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis treated with adalimumab during a 1-year period were reviewed. Previous conventional systemic treatments or other biological agents were unsuccessful. All patients received subcutaneous injections of an initial dose of adalimumab (80 mg) at week 0 followed by adalimumab (40 mg) every other week. Results: A 75% improvement in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 75) score was achieved by 80% of patients at week 24 and by 73.3% of patients at week 48. Moreover, 13.3% of patients were almost completely cleared (PASI 90) at week 48. At 24 weeks, adalimumab therapy increased significantly a patient's quality of life as assessed by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) (p = 0.001). The Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI) decreased from a mean (SD) of 18.9 (12.2) to 8.2 (4.7) (p = 0.001) at week 24. Palmoplantar psoriasis decreased from a mean score of 1.1 (1.3) to 0.5 (0.9) (p = 0.026) and scalp involvement from a mean of 2.5 (1.2) to 1.1 (1.0) (p = 0.002) at week 24. Out of 11 patients with pruritus at the pre-treatment visit, this symptom had completely disappeared in nine of them after 24 weeks of treatment. Conclusions: Treatment with adalimumab proved to be effective for the management of chronic moderate to severe plaque-type psoriasis in patients whose disease had been refractory to systemic conventional therapies or other biologic agents.

Key words::

• adalimumab
• monoclonal antibodies
• psoriasis

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Marta Pulido, MD, for editing the manuscript and for editorial assistance.

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. No funding was received for the study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.