Revised: January 13, 2014
Accepted: February 16, 2014
Published online: May 2, 2014
Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent inflammatory cutaneous disease. Psoriasis patients alternate between periods of remission and periods of exacerbation of the disease. Usually, psoriasis severity is clinically evaluated using tools like Psoriasis Area and Severity Index that present some limitations and subjectivity. Clinicians select the therapy according to psoriasis severity, aiming that patients achieve longer remission periods and improve their quality of life. Biological markers for diagnosis and prognosis of psoriasis help to establish its severity and to monitor the therapeutic response; moreover, biomarkers of psoriasis assist clinicians in their therapeutic decision to treat psoriasis and to choose earlier and more adequate therapeutic strategies, avoiding or minimising worsening of psoriasis. With these markers, they would be able to monitor therapeutics, avoiding unnecessary therapeutic surcharge or changes to a more aggressive therapy. As any attempt to identify these biomarkers should be encouraged, in this review, we will debate published data concerning the proposal of biomarkers to evaluate severity and response to treatment of psoriasis vulgaris.
Core tip: Severity of psoriasis, a chronic, recurrent inflammatory disease, is clinically evaluated by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index that present some limitations and subjectivity. Biological markers for diagnosis and prognosis of psoriasis help to establish its severity and to monitor the therapeutic response; moreover, psoriasis biomarkers assist clinicians in their therapeutic decision to treat psoriasis and to choose earlier and more adequate therapeutic strategies, avoiding or minimizing psoriasis worsening. As any attempt to identify these biomarkers should be encouraged, in this review, we will debate published data concerning the proposal of biomarkers to evaluate severity and response to treatment of psoriasis.