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THERAPEUTIC HOTLINE: Treatment of pityriasis rubra pilaris with etanercept
Author(s) -
Guedes Rita,
Leite Luiz
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
dermatologic therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1529-8019
pISSN - 1396-0296
DOI - 10.1111/j.1529-8019.2011.01404.x
Subject(s) - pityriasis rubra pilaris , medicine , etanercept , dermatology , palmoplantar keratoderma , etiology , hyperkeratosis , pathology , tumor necrosis factor alpha , immunology , psoriasis
Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP) or Devergie's disease is a chronic and rare papulosquamous disorder of unknown etiology characterized by reddish orange scaly plaques, palmoplantar keratoderma, and keratotic follicular papules. The present authors report a case of a 30‐year‐old woman with clinical and histologic signs of PRP (type I adult onset, Griffith's classification). After a few unsuccessful treatments, the present authors chose to start etanercept. Total clearing of the lesions was achieved 5 months after starting the drug. Etanercept is a TNF‐α inhibitor, and today it is largely used in the treatment of several dermatological diseases through blockage of the inflammatory cytokine. The true mechanism of action in PRP remains to be explained; however, the favorable results in our case raise new questions about TNF‐α's role in PRP and suggest a therapeutic alternative for resistant cases to classic treatments. To date, there are only three case reports of PRP treated with etanercept in the literature.