Topical PTH (1-34) is a novel, safe and effective treatment for psoriasis: a randomized self-controlled trial and an open trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) in the context of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, published as a randomized controlled trial.

A programme was initiated to determine whether an agonist of this peptide's receptor, PTH (1-34), could be developed as a drug to treat psoriasis.

Why It Was Studied

Human skin produces parathyroid hormone related peptide.

This peptide is a potent inhibitor of epidermal cell growth.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Fifteen adult patients with chronic plaque psoriasis who had failed to respond to at least one standard treatment were enrolled in a randomized double-blinded placebo self-controlled trial.

At the end of the double-blind study, patients were enrolled in an open large area study.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84), giving a reference point.

PTH (1-34) was formulated in Novasome A cream.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Administration, Cutaneous, Calcium, Dermatologic Agents, Drug Carriers, Liposomes, Parathyroid Hormone and Peptide Fragments.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Non-programmatic.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) in people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 9 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2003 (The British journal of dermatology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) compound page, Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis research.