Dermatology and Skin Care Sciences

Autoimmune Skin Diseases: Current Concepts and Future Directions

Autoimmune diseases of the skin occur when the immune system attacks normal skin. The immune system can be broadly divided into an effector arm responsible for fighting infections and cancer and a regulatory arm that reduces autoreactivity and maintains immune homeostasis. Cutaneous autoimmunity develops when the equilibrium between the effector arm and regulatory arm of the immune system is disrupted. Recent insights into the inflammatory pathways that are overactive in some cutaneous autoimmune diseases have led to therapies targeting the effector arm of the immune system with greater treatment efficacy than previously used broad immunosuppressants. The current paradigm of inhibiting excessive immune activation for treating cutaneous autoimmunity will be discussed including cytokine blockade, cellular depletion, intracellular signaling blockade and costimulatory blockade.