Although billions of dollars are spent on its treatment each year, available therapies for this chronic disease are usually ineffective and often have toxic side effects.
Epithelial cells form important biological barriers in many different tissues and organs.
Psoriasis inhibits the skin's ability to act as a barrier against infection and may also be associated with painful, crippling arthritis. To James G. Krueger, M.D., Ph. D, psoriasis is one of many diseases caused by a disturbance in the normal growth cycle of epithelial cells. It has been demonstrated that psoriatic lesions contain large numbers of active immune system cells. Dr. Krueger's research focuses on the pathogenic or pathological relationship between immune activation and epithelial cell abnormalities in psoriasis, with a view toward developing therapies that are less toxic than those currently used to treat the severe form of this disease.