Psoriasis is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Both innate and adaptive immune factors are involved in pathogenesis. Innate immune factors include neutrophils, dendritic cells, mast cells and keratinocytes as well as receptors that they express and cytokines they produce, and the coagulation and complement systems. The adaptive immune factors include mainly the T-lymphocyte subsets and their cytokines. Cytokines produced in both arms of the immune response and appear to play a major role in pathogenesis are TNF and IL-17. Innate and adaptive immune responses are interdependent and this review covers both arms of the immune response with respect to what is known about the pathogenesis of psoriasis.
Keywords: innate immunity, adaptive immunity, TNF, IL-17Psoriasis is a chronic inflammation of the skin. Several types have been defined based on clinical grounds. They include guttate, plaque, inverse, pustular, erythrodermic,