A Rapid 10 day preclinical efficacy study that produces lesions highly representative of human psoriatic lesions.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012, St. Paul, MN – The most common models for evaluating skin-related inflammation are time consuming and expensive. While they provide valuable data, they don’t allow for rapid and cost effective evaluation of therapeutics earlier in the preclinical pipeline. In response to this need for more convenient and cost effective models, researchers (Van der Fits et al, 2009) developed a model using Imiquimod (IMQ) to induce psoriasis-like inflammation.
Imiquimod is a potent immune activator that is traditionally used to treat virus-associated skin abnormalities and precancerous skin lesions. However it can exacerbate psoriasis (both at the treated area and at distant skin sites) during topical treatment. Application of IMQ to mouse skin results in the influx of various cells of the immune system as well as hyperplasia of the epidermis that is critically dependent on IL-23 and IL-17.
MD Biosciences now offers the IMQ-induced model of skin inflammation as part of its portfolio of efficacy services. The model is 10 days long and the lesions closely resemble that of human psoriatic lesions with erythema, skin thickening and epidermal alterations such as acanthosis and parakeratosis. Subjects are given a psoriasis score depending on the degree of erythema, scaling and thickening. Analysis includes clinical score of the back, ear thickness and histology of both the ear and back.
Image: histology on psoriatic lesions (B-D) compared to that of a naive sample (A) in the IMQ-induced model of skin inflammation. For additional data, please visit the IMQ-induced model.
About MD Biosciences
MD Biosciences is a Preclinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) providing services and products for biotech/pharmaceutical, medical device and animal health and companies engaged in inflammations & neurology research. With specialized laboratories located in Minnesota, Glasgow, and Israel, our panel of internationally recognized experts provides in-depth expertise and technologies to overcome challenges and provide total solutions to the drug discovery market.
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