Itolizumab – A New Biologic for Management of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic, relapsing, inflammatory, immune-mediated systemic disease with mainly skin and joint manifestations. The available treatment options to cure psoriasis include topical therapy, phototherapy, and biological therapy. Biological therapy has become a promising option due to the rapid action and less adverse effects associated with its use. The newly developed biologic itolizumab is a humanized recombinant anti-CD6 monoclonal antibody of IgG1 isotype that binds to domain 1 of CD6, thereby immunomodulating human lymphocytes without interfering with the binding of CD6 to the activated leukocyte-cell adhesion molecule. In this case series, a total of 5 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis were treated with itolizumab. They exhibited a rapid PASI 75 response after 4 doses of itolizumab infusion. The patients were poor responders to methotrexate and/or cyclosporine therapy for a long time. All infusions were well tolerated by all patients with no adverse reactions or infections during the treatment period. Itolizumab can be a good option for management of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.