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Atopic dermatitis: treatment and innovations in immunotherapy

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Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease characterized by itching and skin barrier dysfunction. Moderate to severe AD is often refractory to first-line topical treatments, and systemic immunosuppressants have been shown to be effective but have significant adverse effects. The paucity of basic treatments has contributed to the development of targeted topical and systemic immunotherapies based on the use of small molecules and biologic drugs which can directly interact with AD pathogenetic pathways. They represent a new era of therapeutic innovation. Additional new treatments are desirable since AD is a heterogeneous disease marked by different immunological phenotypes. This manuscript will review the mechanism of action, safety profile, and efficacy of promising new systemic immunological treatments for AD. Since moderate to severe AD can result in poor quality of life, the development of targeted and well-tolerated immunomodulators is a crucial purpose. The introduction of new pharmacological agents may offer new therapeutic options. However, there is the need to evaluate how "narrow-acting" agents, such as individual interleukin inhibitors, will perform under the safety and efficacy profiles compared with "broad-acting" agents, such as JAK inhibitors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmaceutical Department, Asl Napoli 3 Sud, Dell’Amicizia Street, 22, 80035, Nola, Naples, Italy

    Francesco Ferrara

  2. Ministry of Health, Viale Giorgio Ribotta, 5, 00144, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Zovi

  3. Pharmaceutical Department, Asl Napoli 3 Sud, Marittima Street, 3, 80056, Ercolano, Naples, Italy

    Maurizio Capuozzo

  4. Italian Society of Hospital Pharmacy (SIFO), SIFO Secretariat of the Lombardy Region, Via Carlo Farini, 81, 20159, Milan, Italy

    Roberto Langella

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  1. Francesco Ferrara
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  2. Andrea Zovi
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  3. Maurizio Capuozzo
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  4. Roberto Langella
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Contributions

FF: conceptualization, Writing—original draft, Methodology, Supervision, Validation.AZ: writing—review & editing, Validation.MC: supervision, Validation.RL: conceptualization, Writing—original draft.

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Correspondence to Andrea Zovi.

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Ferrara, F., Zovi, A., Capuozzo, M. et al. Atopic dermatitis: treatment and innovations in immunotherapy. Inflammopharmacol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-024-01453-8

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