Revolutionalizing the age old conventional treatment of psoriasis: An animal based comparative study between methylprednisolone and different doses of a novel anti-oxidant humanin analogue (HNG)

• Published in: International immunopharmacology 2022-09, Vol.110, p.108990-108990, Article 108990
• Main Authors: Salahuddin, Zari, Rafi, Ali, Muhammad, Hafsa, Aftab, Usman, Akhtar, Tasleem, Zafar, Muhammad Shoaib, Shahzad, Muhammad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Humanin; Immune response; Inflammation; Oxidative stress biomarkers; Protein expression; Psoriasis
• ISSN: 1567-5769; 1878-1705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2022.108990

•Oxidative stress has emerging role in pathology of psoriasis.•Treatment with analogues of innate anti oxidants like mitochondrial peptide humanin S14G-HNG, may provide a new scope for patient care in dermatological diseases like Psoriasis.•S14G-HNG had shown promising results like improvement in macroscopic symptoms and histology.•S14G-HNG altered the disease specific protein expression and caused significant reduction in oxidative stress. Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease with 2–4% of prevalence worldwide conferring a major burden on health systems. It is assumed that the prevalence might increase due to climatic change and deterioration of protective ozone barrier. With the chances of increasing prevalence, newer and specific treatment options need to be explored. Skin is a constant target of oxidative stress owing to continuous exposure to ultraviolet radiations. Oxidative stress is considered to have a central role in dermatological diseases, including psoriasis. This study was designed to explore the role of Humanin analogue (S14-G HNG) as an important anti oxidant for psoriasis like condition in BALB/c mice as till date the commomly used drugs for this disease are corticosteroids which have a dissatisfactory adverse effect profile in terms of chronic use. Imiquimod 5% was used to induce Psoriasis like condition in mice, and the role of HNG was assessed through the histological examination, protein expressions and markers of oxidative stress. Two doses (low and high) of HNG were used and results were compared with an established drug methylprednisolone. Key Result. Significant improvement was seen on histology, PASI scoring, protein expression and oxidative stress by the use of intraperitoneal injections of S14-G HNG and the results were comparable to those obtained through peritoneal injections of methylprednisolone. S14G-HNG can be considered as a suitable option for treatment of Psoriasis after clinical trials and it might prove to have lesser side effects as compared to other drugs employed for the treatment of psoriasis being an innate anti oxidant and anti apoptotic compound.