Optical control of adenosine A3 receptor signaling: Towards a multimodal phototherapy in psoriasis?

Abstract

Psoriasis is a long-lasting inflammatory disease primarily characterized by cutaneous and systemic manifestations but also showing multiple comorbidities (i.e., psoriatic arthritis, cardiometabolic diseases, psychological illnesses, inflammatory bowel diseases), which affect patients’ quality of life. Its global prevalence score fluctuates around 2% of the population, from which 70% to 80% show a mild variant (i.e., less than 3% to 5% of affected body surface area), and is equally present in both sexes (1). Current treatments of psoriasis show excellent clinical efficacy for many patients but are not curative and eventually remain deficient or inefficient for many others. Thus, despite the therapeutic arsenal for psoriasis being considered first-rate, some unmet clinical conditions will require further pharmacotherapeutic development. In that context, novel orally active drugs for the management of moderate-to-severe psoriasis are under development (2), including Piclidenoson (CF101), an adenosine A3 receptor (A3R) agonist. Indeed, A3R has emerged as novel, promising therapeutic target and biologically predictive marker not only for psoriasis but also for other inflammatory diseases (i.e., rheumatoid arthritis) (3).