Remission of Psoriasis during Treatment with Apatinib in a Patient with Rectal Cancer

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin disease characterized by abnormal keratinocyte proliferation and vascular hyperplasia. Apatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor which has been reported to be effective in some tumors thought to be associated with inhibition of the proliferation of endothelial cells by selectively inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2). We present a 54-yearold patient with a 30-year history of psoriasis, who did not respond well to oral treatment with acitretin in combination with topical corticosteroids. The patient was diagnosed with rectal cancer and was treated with oral apatinib 250 mg once daily. To our surprise, all the psoriasis lesions were completely resolved after a 53-days course of treatment. Although apatinib and its variants have been extensively used as an anticancer drug, there is no report of their use in psoriasis. As with other antitumor treatments, we speculate that apatinib is effective for psoriasis owing to an inhibition of endothelial cell growth in psoriasis lesions. This observation suggests that apatinib may be a useful drug to treat psoriasis in the future and deserves further investigation in its own right.