Although the newly developed biologics (drugs derived from living cells cultured in a
laboratory) are highly effective in controlling psoriasis, all the biologics should be
continuously injected to suppress recurrence of the disease. In this regard, the observation
in the phase II clinical trial conducted by us (Laboratory for Investigative Dermatology at
the Rockefeller University) was groundbreaking that just a single dose of anti-IL-23p19
antibody (risankizumab, trade name: Skyrizi, study drug in this clinical trial)
administration produced disease clearance up to 66 weeks in 46% (6 of 13) of patients.
However, there is a lack of understanding about immune regulation in human skin induced by
anti-IL-23p19 antibody injection, and there is a need to conduct a psoriasis clinical trial
for single-cell sequencing immune cells in human psoriasis skin before and after
anti-IL-23p19 antibody administration, and to correlate regulatory immune cell alterations
with clinical disease progression. The overall objective of the clinical trial is to study
regulatory immune cell alterations induced by anti-IL-23p19 antibody administration in
psoriasis patients who achieve long-term disease clearance off drugs.