Next Generation Immuno Dermatology

[Caroline]

Heard of an interesting new project that is starting in the Netherlands. It is called NGID.

They received funding for a 6 year project. And they are going to investigate the skin with optometric instruments and biopts with the purpose of finding markers that define the psoriasis in a personal way.
The idea is to do so much research into that markers and combined with that the treatments that work for that markers, that in the future it will become possible to measure the markers for a patient and then to be immediately able to prescribe a treatment that will probably work.

I think it will be a complex project and I see that a lot of well-known names in the medical world over here are involved. People from Radboud Medical Centre in Nijmegen, specialised in psoriasis, and people from Leiden University. The project is executed by CHDR (Centre for Human Drug Research) also located in Leiden. Even psychologists are involved to find the psychological markers, like stress or depression.

I will try to keep an eye on this project and see if they make progress. Unfortunately for me for now there are no references to Psoriatic Arthritis.

[Fred]

Sounds interesting and I welcome anyone trying to find a treatment that will work straight out of the box, but we all know our first port of call is our GP (family doctor) and they will have no choice but to make us jump through hoops.

Also treatments are changing all the time  and I have been through many that once worked but no longer do, so is the theory that they will work out I need X treatment from the start of my first diagnoses ?

Sorry but I just don't see it working as all patients are different and if say Bimzelx (my current treatment) was available when first diagnosed in 1980 they would recommend I have that, there is no way a state funded health system would be able to do that.

But I'll keep a half open mind with the suggestion ............................. well sort of ...................... no it won't work. 

[Caroline]

Well…. I think that smart people decide to fund it.
I see that quite some people that are knowledged in the medical field are connected and work together.
So there must be some indication that this could work.

And anyway, they are doing research into the mechanism of psoriasis, that is already nice and interesting as they may make some progress in knowledge, so they might also find things we cannot suspect right now.

I keep my other half mind open, like you.

[Fred]

"Smart" people only fund what will make them a profit. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for finding something to give to those newly diagnosed but as we well know we are all different and even in the early stages even if it was affordable it still may not work after a few years.

Also psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis effects people in different ways with it's types or it's impact on quality of life, it can also go into remission or get worse and cause other problems. Yes it would be great to treat someone with a tailored treatment after first diagnoses but by my own experience and a lot of our members posts I just can't see it working.

But looking from the other side of the fence, wasn't psoriasis once thought to be leprosy ? So who knows they may be on to something ........................................................... Wait was that a pig just flying past my window ?

Night night. 

[Forest Walker]

NGID is hopeful!  And good!  Even if its origins could possibly be driven by profit.  Even if the research takes a long, long while.  Something positive will be gained by it for patients of the future.  Maybe not in my lifetime.  Maybe within a younger person's lifetime.  

I had severe Crohn's Disease for 21 years.  While I was learning to live with it, some smart researchers in UK were following their interests in immunity.  Their discoveries led to development of infliximab.  When Humira came along in 2007, I achieved a remission.  

We do lose response to therapies, but I feel hopeful for what has come so far and what is yet to come through science.  Who knows what the NIGD group will learn in the next six years and how it can be helpful to folks with Psoriasis?  You and I may not benefit from the research, but maybe future generations will.

[Caroline]

That is also the way I see it. You never know what they will find from this research. Which steps they perhaps can make.

I will keep an eye on it, they have a newsletter that you can get for free so I did.