Deans' stroke musings: VIP-U: Psoriasis treatment reduces vascular inflammation

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

VIP-U: Psoriasis treatment reduces vascular inflammation

Ask your doctor if this treatment could vastly reduce your chances of getting another stroke or heart attack.
What other treatments does your doctor have you on to reduce atherosclerosis? Any of these? Or is your doctor not treating your vascular inflammation at all?

Researchers develop new biomedical polymer to treat atherosclerosis May 2017

Vitamin D and cardiovascular disease: From atherosclerosis to myocardial infarction and stroke Jan. 2017

Watermelon juice reverses hardening of the arteries Nov. 2011

New study shows aged garlic extract can reduce dangerous plaque buildup in arteries Jan. 2016

The latest here:

VIP-U: Psoriasis treatment reduces vascular inflammation

Vascular inflammation was reduced in patients who were treated for psoriasis with ustekinumab, according to results from the VIP-U study presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting.

“What’s important at this stage is the concept and the promise,” Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, director of the Psoriasis and Phototherapy Treatment Center, vice chair of clinical research, medical director of the dermatology clinical studies unit, professor of dermatology and professor of epidemiology in biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania, told Cardiology Today. “We know inflammation is an important risk factor for CVD. Just recently, the CANTOS trial proved that blocking inflammation with an antibody against interleukin-1b lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events. Our study demonstrates that blocking interleukin-12/23 not only improves inflammation in the skin, joints and bowels, but also in the aorta, proving that it is capable of biologically hitting the target.”

Researchers analyzed data from 43 patients (mean age, 42 years) who had a psoriasis area severity index greater than 12 and a body surface area of at least 10. At baseline, patients were washed out of their psoriasis treatment.

Patients were assigned to ustekinumab (Stelara, Janssen) or placebo for 12 weeks. The primary outcome of interest was aortic inflammation, which was measured by fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT scans at baseline and 12 weeks.

At 12 weeks, 41 patients completed the trial.

Seventy-seven percent of patients assigned ustekinumab achieved a 75% reduction in psoriasis area severity index compared with 11% of patients in the placebo group (P < .001).

At the end of the study, total aortic vascular inflammation was reduced by 6.6% in patients assigned ustekinumab and increased by 12.1% in patients assigned placebo (P = .001).

“There is a need for treatments that can lower CV risk by modulating inflammation while not significantly increasing the risk of side effects such as infection,” Gelfand told Cardiology Today. “The emerging biologics in psoriasis have an impressive safety profile and may ultimately prove to offer benefits beyond the skin, extending to cardiovascular disease prevention.” – by Darlene Dobkowski

Reference:

Gelfand JM, et al. Abstract 6645. Presented at: American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting; Feb. 16-20, 2018; San Diego.

Disclosures: The study was funded by Janssen Scientific Affairs. Gelfand reports he is a consultant for Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coherus, Dermira, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Biologics, Menlo Therapeutics, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron and Sanofi; receives honoraria and research grants from AbbVie, Celgene, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron and Sanofi; and has received payment for CME work related to psoriasis that was supported by AbbVie, Lilly and Valeant.