Pregnancy and P Study
from Maria R.

Hi:  I was just exploring about Dovonex and retinoids and pregnancy because someone mentioned to me that there was a significant concern.  I have stayed off of all but mild steroid creams since trying to conceive, but since becoming pregnant my psoriasis has cleared significantly ... never was really bad, just knees, ankles, elbows and a few other small patches.  One of your responses mentioned exploring this issue [P improvement during pregnancy –Ed] and although it was an old response I just wanted to pass this on.

Do you happen to know which medical facility is investigating this? 

Also the only person I know who was severely afflicted was also a Type I diabetic.  Is there a higher frequency of multiple auto-immune type diseases occurring together?  Any relationship with HLA types?  We were in medical school together and speculated about these issues, but never took the time to explore them further.

Thanks –Maria R., M.D.

*****

Ed’s Response:  The study involving pregnant women is being conducted now through the University of California, Irvine.  You may email Jenny Murase ([email protected]) for more information.  The study was described in my May 2001 Briefing.

I wish I knew the answer to your question about higher frequency of multiple auto-immune type diseases occurring together.  It looks as though several genes are associated with P and several of these have also been linked to other autoimmune conditions, but so far I’ve not read or heard any sweeping statements about disease associations.  Misbehaving T-cells seem to be central in the P story and one may assume these same T-cells play a role larger than making skin regenerate faster.... But I’m told only idiots make assumptions about contemporary health research.

So, I will keep my ears to the rail.  -Ed

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