Staphylococcus aureus and host interaction in the flare‐ups of hidradenitis suppurativa

Abstract

effects of oxymatrine therapy for patients with severe plaque psoriasis deserves special attention. The result of oxymatrine application seems to be very promising. Eight weeks of intravenous treatment reduced the proliferation of keratinocytes, lowered the number of apoptotic cells and decreased the infiltration inflammatory cells all to a level comparable with acitretin treatment. Consequently, symptoms in the patients treated with oxymatrine significantly improved. Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores decreased (from 24.5 to 6.91), which was comparable with the improvement with acitretin treatment (from 25.03 to 7.41). The potential side-effects of intravenous oxymatrine treatment have also been examined. In a single-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial Zhou and colleagues reported only minor adverse effects that were lower than those observed when acitretin was applied. Moreover, oxymatrine therapy has additional important advantages over acitretin treatment that include a reduction in relapse rate (examined at week 32) and in metabolic abnormalities. Hopefully, studies involving an even greater number of patients and everyday clinical application will strengthen these results, and oxymatrine will become a safe tool either alone or in combination with other treatments for managing severe plaque-type psoriasis, giving new hope for patients poorly responding to current therapies.