the efficacy and safety of secukinumab in patients with ichthyoses

Conditions: Ichthyosis; Autosomal Recessive Congenital Ichthyosis; Lamellar Ichthyosis; Congenital Ichthyosiform Erythroderma; Epidermolytic Ichthyosis; Netherton Syndrome

Summary: the ichthyoses are a group of lifelong genetic disorders which share characteristics of generalized skin thickening, scaling and underlying cutaneous inflammation. there are no therapies based on growing understanding of what causes the disease. however, there have been recent discoveries of marked elevations in expression of interleukin-17a (il-17a) and il-17-related cytokines in the skin of individuals with ichthyosis, which may explain the inflammation. investigators propose that il-17-targeting therapeutics will safely suppress the inflammation and possibly the other features of ichthyosis, improving quality of life.

the ichthyoses are a group of lifelong genetic disorders which share characteristics of generalized skin thickening, scaling and underlying cutaneous inflammation. the vast majority are orphan disorders and are associated with extremely poor quality of life related to social ostracism from altered appearance, associated itchiness and discomfort, and functional limitations from the skin disease. among the most common of these orphan disorders are autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis (arci) with its phenotypic subsets of lamellar ichthyosis (arci-li) and congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma (arci-cie), epidermolytic ichthyosis (ei) and netherton syndrome (ns). therapy is time-consuming for patients or parents and is supportive, focusing on clearance of the scaling. there are no therapies based on growing understanding of what causes the disease. there have been recent discoveries of marked elevations in expression of interleukin-17a (il-17a) and il-17-related cytokines in the skin of individuals with ichthyosis, which may explain the inflammation. psoriasis, another inflammatory skin disorder with redness and scaling, has now been shown to result from il-17 pathway activation and il-17a inhibition is the most effective therapy known to treat psoriasis. investigators propose that il-17-targeting therapeutics will safely suppress the inflammation and possibly the other features of ichthyosis, improving quality of life. in this long-term, open-label extension, investigators propose to treat adults with ichthyosis and at least moderate erythema with subcutaneously administered anti-il-17 antibody (secukinumab) and to serially assess clinical response to this therapy and its safety.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * subject has provided informed consent * subjects are at least 18 years of age or older at the time of screening * female subjects must not be pregnant or breast-feeding * female subjects of child-bearing potential with a negative urine pregnancy test and using at least one form of contraception (abstinence allowed) * subjects must have a confirmed diagnosis of arci (divided phenotypically into arci-li or arci-cie), ei or ns (by genotype or willingness to be genotyped) * subjects must be clinically judged to be immunocompetent. * subjects will have no allergy to secukinumab or components of the product. * subjects will have normal baseline laboratory testing (cmp, cbc, hiv negative, hepatitis b, c negative, quantiferon®-tb gold negative) * subjects must have an erythema score of at least 18 on iasi and an iasi-e score of 12 (at least moderate severity of erythema) at baseline exclusion criteria: * subjects who are unable to give informed consent or assent. * subjects without a confirmed diagnosis arci, ei, or ns. * subjects who have a known allergy to secukinumab. * female subjects who are pregnant, considering becoming pregnant, or will breastfeed. * subjects who have prior biologic use targeting il-17a/il-17 receptor a or il-12/il-23 or who have prior use of tnf-alpha blockers. * subjects who have used a systemic retinoid within one month prior to initiation. * subjects who have used topical retinoids or keratolytics within one week prior to initiation. * subjects who have used emollient on the area to be biopsied in the previous 24 hours