Biological therapy in genital psoriasis in women

Genital psoriasis (GenPs) is a frequent manifestation of psoriasis, causing distress, especially in women. We prospectively studied a population of 74 psoriatic women with severe and generalized psoriasis eligible to biologic therapy, to examine which biologic therapy is more effective on GenPs and to study possible associations between PASI severity and GenPs. Overall, 25/74 (34%) had GenPs: 6 received Ixekizumab, 7 Ustekinumab, 8 Adalimumab, 2 Secukinumab, 1 Etanercept, 1 Certolizumab. Therapies were administered based on PASI severity, independently from the presence of GenPs. Side effects, PASI score, sPGA-G scale for GenPs were recorded at time 0 and after 6 month of therapy. The mean sPGA-G scale value was 2.8 before treatment. After biologic therapy, all patients except one, improved of at least one point. Mostly, patients treated with anti-IL17 (Secukinumab, Ixekizumab) and anti-IL12/23 (Ustekinumab) improved. Mean PASI ranged from 10 to 16.3 before treatment. After 6 months of therapy, 4 anti-TNFα patients, 6 anti-IL17 and 1 anti-IL12/23, reached PASI 90. At time 0, no correlation between PASI and sPGA-G was visible (Pearson r = 0.10, p =.620). From our data, GenPs apparently responds favorably to IL17A inhibitors, but further studies, based on larger numbers of patients, are needed.