Psoriasis is a common, chronic autoimmune skin disease, whose multifactorial pathogenesis is thought to result from a combination of genetic, environmental, and immunologic factors. Recent progress in the field has revealed that dysregulated interaction between immune cells (particularly T cells and DCs) and keratinocytes is crucial in driving inflammatory processes involved in the development and maintenance of the disease. By contrast, although innate immune cells, including neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages, have also been shown to infiltrate the psoriatic plaques and to display abnormal functions in psoriatic patients, their role in disease pathogenesis has been poorly investigated.
This projecet has the aim to further investigate the specific role of neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages in the Imiquimod (IMQ)-induced mouse model of psoriasis, as well as in psoriatic patients.