Psoriasis triggered by toll-like receptor 7 agonist imiquimod in the presence of dermal plasmacytoid dendritic cell precursors

M Gilliet, C Conrad, M Geiges, A Cozzio… - Archives of …, 2004 - jamanetwork.com
Background It has been proposed that the innate immune system plays a central role in
driving the autoimmune T-cell cascade leading to psoriasis; however, there is no direct
evidence for this. Observations We observed aggravation and spreading of a psoriatic
plaque when treated topically with the toll-like receptor (TLR) 7 agonist imiquimod. The
exacerbation of psoriasis was accompanied by a massive induction of lesional type I
interferon activity, detected by MxA expression after imiquimod therapy. Since imiquimod …