Update on psoriasis therapies.

New psoriasis therapies offer a great hope for the people who suffer from chronic inflammatory skin diseases. Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are the diseases that can be treated with biological therapy, which targets either the interaction between an antigen-presenting cell and the T-cell, or cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), that are presumed to be involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis vulgaris and psoriatic arthritis. Current biological therapies now seem to hold promise of potentially excellent effect, with the toxicities associated with existing therapies: phototherapy (PUVA or UVB), retinoids, cyclosporin, methotrexate (MTX). Topical therapy will continue to be used in combination with the new biological therapies for residual psoriatic plaques. In this paper, we highlight the current psoriasis treatments, new biological therapies, and their use in practice.