- 1Faculty of Cosmetology, The Academy of Cosmetics and Health Care, Warsaw, Poland.
- 2Laboratory
of Molecular Biology, The Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology
and Nutrition, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jabłonna, Poland.
Abstract
Psoriasis
is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized histologically by
hyperproliferation and aberrant differentiation of epidermal
keratinocytes. A wide range of conventional medical therapies to treat
psoriasis is established, from topical therapies and systemic
medications through to phototherapy or combinations of those. However,
most of these therapies have a limited efficacy and may cause a number
of side effects, including cutaneous atrophy, organ toxicity,
carcinogenicity, and broadband immunosuppression, which are restricting
their long-term use. Therefore, it would be desirable to use herbal
products as an alternative treatment for psoriasis that causes fewer
side effects. For this purpose, several electronic databases and
literature references were used to summarize the current knowledge
acquired on the basis of animal studies and clinical trials regarding herbal products used to treat psoriasis topically. This review discusses the mechanisms of herbal
products activities through (1) inhibition of the keratinocyte
hyperproliferation and inducing apoptosis, (2) inhibition of
immune-inflammatory reaction, (3) suppression of phosphorylase kinase
(PhK) activity, and (4) inhibition of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling
pathway. Moreover, the penetration of herbal products through the psoriatic skin barrier, novel herbal drug delivery systems in psoriasis treatment, and possible adverse effects of herbal therapy are discussed.
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.
