UV-induced immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory actions: mechanisms and clinical applications

摘要

In regard of their long history in medicine, the capacity of UV rays to act as immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory agents has been recognized only relatively recently. The concept evolved very progressively by the accumulation of empirical observations made most of the time by serendipity, some of the first ones having already been collected in the early antiquity: the case of a plant Amni majus growing along the Nile; its use to potentialize sunshine in some skin diseases; and ending with its chemical characterization by Lerner in 1953 [1] of its active component as a psoralen now classified as a photosensitizer are illustrative of this progressive accumulation of knowledge. This long journey spanning over more than three millenniums opened the door to current photochemotherapy.