Developing a 3D printed skin model using a Dextran – Collagen hydrogel to analyse the cellular and epigenetic effects of interleukin-17 inhibitors in psoriasis

There are now a wealth of treatments for psoriasis (Ps), a chronic non contagious autoimmune skin disease usually arising in inflamed red and white scaly patches of skin. Ps has no known cure but symptoms can be controlled by treatments such as steroid creams and UV light. Ps affects 2-3 % of the population and 125million people worldwide. Although biological therapeutics have revolutionised the treatment of disease, there is still a significant proportion of patients that fail to respond, patients that relapse and long term, drug free remission is not readily achievable.

There is evidence how skin from Ps patients is differentially methylated compared to that of healthy skin, with the implication that this methylation may maintain keratinocytes in a hyper-inflammatory state. Long term treatment response may therefore be dependent on the control of this methylation state.