Jai Il Youn

BACKGROUND: Ustekinumab has been evaluated in Caucasian patients with psoriasis, but no studies have been conducted in Asian patients.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of ustekinumab in Taiwanese and Korean patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis.

METHODS: In this 36-week, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 121 patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis were randomized (1:1) to receive subcutaneous injections of ustekinumab 45mg at weeks 0, 4, 16 or ...

BACKGROUND: Etanercept, a soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor, and acitretin have been shown to be effective in treating psoriasis. Acitretin is widely used in Korea. However, the combination of etanercept plus acitretin has not been evaluated among Korean patients with psoriasis. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of combination therapy with etanercept and acitretin in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

METHODS: Sixty patients with ...

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease that may involve any skin site. In particular, psoriasis on the face gives rise to considerable concern because of associated cosmetic problems and psychosocial distress. Some authors have reported that a significant proportion of patients with psoriasis have facial involvement, and several reports have suggested that facial involvement is a marker of severe psoriasis. However, patients with facial psoriasis seem to have ...

To identify HLA markers that may contribute to the genetic susceptibility of Koreans to psoriasis, we studied 84 psoriasis patients, with serologic HLA types of A, B, and genotypes of HLA-Cw, DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, DPB1 alleles. The distribution of HLA markers and the associated haplotypes were analyzed according to age and sex. HLA-Cw*0602 showed the strongest association with psoriasis (relative risk = 36.0, p < 10-8, Pc < 8 x 10-7). The frequencies of A1 (relative risk = 17.0, p < 9 x ...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies demonstrated clinical differences of early- and late-onset psoriasis. However, epidemiological data and clinical characteristics of psoriasis occurring in geriatric patients have been rarely studied.

OBJECTIVE: Assessment of epidemiology and clinical features of psoriasis first occurring over the age of 60 years, so-called elderly-onset psoriasis, based on clinical data.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among 4049 patients visiting our psoriasis clinic for the last 27 ...

Ultraviolet (UV) B radiation may trigger cutaneous inflammatory responses by directly inducing epidermal keratinocytes to elaborate specific cytokines such as interleukin (IL-1) and IL-6. Because IL-1 is a potent inducer of IL-6, one may speculate that the release of IL-6 by keratinocytes after UV exposure is mediated via the release of IL-1 in an autocrine or paracrine manner. We demonstrated that UVB irradiation upregulated IL-1 alpha mRNA at a lower dose (15 mJ/cm2) and then ...

Defective regulation of apoptosis may play a role in the development of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, in which the skin is a prominent target. To our knowledge, however, the nature of epidermal changes in cutaneous lupus erythematosus (LE) has not previously been investigated. We investigated the involvement of apoptosis in cutaneous LE. A total of 44 lesional skin samples from patients with cutaneous LE, 44 skin samples from patients with scleroderma, five ...

BACKGROUND: Facial involvement in psoriasis has received little attention in standard descriptions of the disease because the face has long been thought of as rarely involved. A few reports have suggested that facial involvement might be a sign of severe psoriasis. However, there have been no comparison studies on the severity of psoriasis between patients with and without facial involvement.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of facial involvement, and ...

It has been proposed that two types of psoriasis can be characterized based upon age of onset. The purpose of our study was to investigate the characteristics of early and late onset psoriasis in the Korean population. A total of 986 psoriasis patients were included in this study, and the age of onset frequency proved to be bimodal. Family history in the first-degree relatives was significantly higher in the early onset group (< 40 years old) when compared with the late onset group (> or ...

Beneficial effects attributed to green tea, such as its anticancer and antioxidant properties, may be mediated by (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). In this study, the effects of EGCG on cell proliferation and UV-induced apoptosis were investigated in normal epidermal keratinocytes. When topically applied to aged human skin, EGCG stimulated the proliferation of epidermal keratinocytes, which increased the epidermal thickness. In addition, this topical application also inhibited the ...

Background: Although the use of an oral retinoid as monotherapy is an effective treatment for psoriasis, it is usually used in combination with other topical or systemic therapies including topical corticosteroids, UVB phototherapy, psoralens + UVA (PUVA) chemotherapy and cyclosporine mainly in an effort to reduce or avoid adverse effects.Aim: To compare the efficacy of the calcipotriol + acitretin combination treatment with acitretin alone over a long period in Korean patients with ...

Decreased collagen synthesis and loss of responsiveness to growth factors are well known phenomena in in vivo or in vitro aged cells. Ascorbic acid and some cytokines such as transforming growth factor-beta and interferon-gamma are important regulators of collagen synthesis. To investigate the responsiveness of fibroblasts with regard to the photoaging and aging process, we examined the effect of ascorbic acid, TGF-beta, and IFN-gamma on collagen synthesis in dermal fibroblasts from ...

Human skin is exposed to significant amounts of UVA and UVB radiation simultaneously. The effects of UVA and UVB interactions have been examined in many aspects such as erythema response. The effects of UVA on the production of cytokines by UVB have not been studied yet. The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of UVB and UVA on the production of IL-1 in cultured human keratinocytes and to determine whether UVA can modify the effects of UVB on the IL-1 production. Human ...

BACKGROUND: Hyperuricaemia is a common finding in patients with psoriasis. However, previous studies have reported inconsistent results about the association between serum uric acid concentration (SUAC) and psoriasis severity. Recent studies have also reported that SUAC is associated with metabolic dysregulation.

AIM: To assess any association between SUAC and clinical features of psoriasis, and to investigate the characteristics of patients with psoriasis with hyperuricaemia compared ...