Drug delivery systems for the treatment of psoriasis: Current status and prospects

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disorder characterized by keratinocyte hyperproliferation, presence of inflammatory cells in the epidermis, lesion, and silver-white scales. It is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. Several drug targets and targeted therapies for psoriasis have been identified. Many target-specific therapies are also developed for reducing the symptoms of this disorder. Many treatment strategies are now used for psoriasis including traditional treatment, use of nano-carriers, and herbal drugs. Among the nanocarriers, liposomes, nanostructured lipid carriers, niosomes, solid lipid nanocarriers, ethosomes, transfersomes, nanosuspension, and dendrimers are potential carriers for therapy of psoriasis. Microspheres, microemulsion, micelles, hydrogels, microsponges, and microneedles are other novel drug delivery systems useful for anti-psoriasis therapy. Drug iontophoresis is also found effective against psoriasis. Microneedles have recently received more attention owing to higher therapeutic efficacy. In addition to drug delivery systems, evaluation models for psoriasis are also described in the review. Many models are used for the evaluation of psoriasis and the zebrafish model is recently reported. Further, the review presents the prospects of therapies and drug delivery systems for psoriasis. Supplementation of regulatory T cells is one among many emerging treatment modalities for psoriasis. Ablative lasers could also be used in the future for cutaneous therapy of psoriasis.