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Print pageExcess levels of a naturally occurring protein in your body's immune system can cause your skin cells to grow at an accelerated rate.
Back to topHow does the immune system work?
One of the many ways your immune system protects your body against infection, viruses, and bacteria is through inflammation—the increased flow of blood and immune cells to a threatened part of the body. For example, when you scrape your knee, your skin may swell and turn red. This is because your immune system responds to the injury by sending blood and immune cells to the skin to prevent infection and to begin the healing process. This is known as the inflammatory response.
The role of the immune system in psoriasis
The body's inflammatory process is maintained in part by chemical messengers. During a normal immune response, certain types of chemical messengers are produced by activated immune cells and sent to the site of infection. Some of these chemical messengers may cause the skin to grow at an accelerated rate.
Normally, skin cells grow, mature, and are sloughed off over a period of about a month. The body eventually sheds these cells, revealing new skin cells. In people with psoriasis, however, the immune system is overactive and the skin cells reproduce in only 3 to 4 days. The body has no way to shed the skin cells fast enough, and they accumulate on the surface, forming raised, red patches or plaques.
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