Psoriasis and Hepatitis C: Improvement with Interferon

In 2011, a case was reported of a 52-year-old female with chronic hepatitis C and extensive psoriasis who experienced a dramatic improvement in her psoriatic symptoms following treatment with pegylated interferon alfa-2b and ribavirin. Despite interferon's known side effects, which can include skin reactions and the potential to unmask or exacerbate underlying skin diseases like psoriasis, this patient's psoriasis improved significantly during and after the treatment. Her psoriasis remained less active for over four years without any specific psoriatic treatment. The patient's hepatitis C viral-RNA load also became undetectable. The authors suggested that the improvement in psoriasis might be related to the treatment's effect on reducing T-cell activation and cytokine production, although they acknowledged that further research was needed to establish a direct causal relationship.