It has been known for a long time a major factors in developing psoriasis is genetic; in other words, you don’t get psoriasis from anyone other than your parents (you’re either born with psoriasis or you’re not.) Many people have psoriasis without even knowing it, because nothing has triggered their condition into flaring… so far.
So, how can anyone know if they have psoriasis without actually having a flare-up? Right now, you can’t. But if a genetic "marker" can be found to be associated with psoriatic patients, people could take a simple test to determine if they carry the genes associated with psoriasis, and could potentially take preventative measures to minimize the chances of their psoriasis manifesting itself.
There is no way to analyze these genes without having a genetic samples to work with. Toward this goal, since 2005 the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) has been collecting DNA samples for the "National Psoriasis Victor Henschel BioBank"; a part of the "Genetic Alliance Biobank", which is a centralized repository for collecting, storing and distributing biological samples for research. This has been funded through donations for the last 5-6 years, and now it appears that the US Government is starting to take it more seriously.
By approving $1.5M for the CDC to create a psoriasis patient registry, they can begin collecting genetic samples of people who do suffer with psoriasis (the NPF has been collecting both psoriatic and non-psoriatic samples, but the CDC will only be looking for psoriatic samples).
The creation of CDC patient registries for other chronic conditions have been credited with improving treatments by up to 50% by allowing researchers to look for critical patterns in treatments and results. The NPF was instrumental in this development, after much lobbying and over 3,000 messages from NPF members and supporters sent to their elected officials requesting an increase in the government’s psoriasis research… it seems they made their point.
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