Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042109 (urticaria)
 6,569 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

39 patients were treated with carotinoids (beta-carotene alone or combined with canthaxanthine) with an oral dose of 50-150 mg/d, some of them for a period of several years. 23 of these were patients with porphyria (erythropoietic protoporphyria [EPP] 20, congenital erythropoietic porphyria 2, erythropoietic coproporphyria 1); 16 patients were suffering from various photodermatoses (solar urticaria 6, actinic reticuloid 5, UV-A intolerance 1, unclassified photodermatoses 4). Tolerance of the carotinoids was very good; no side effects were seen except for a yellow discoloration of the skin. In 19 of 20 EPP patients the result of the treatment was good, whereas no improvement was seen in the other kinds of porphyria. Of the 16 cases of photodermatoses not caused by porphyrinopathy, 6 responded to the therapy (solar urticaria 2, actinic reticuloid 2, UV-A intolerance 1, unclassified photodermatosis 1). Some cases showed great improvement as a result of the treatment.
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PMID:[Treatment of photodermatoses with carotinoids (author's transl)]. 89 78

We have found that beta-carotene, when administered in sufficiently high doses, can be an effective therapy for ameliorating the photosensitivity associated with EPP. Other workers have confirmed our findings, using either beta-carotene, canthaxanthin or combinations of these two carotenoids. Carotenoids may be of some use in congenital porphyria, if given in high doses and started when the patient is very young. Carotenoid treatment seems of limited use in polymorphous light eruption, solar urticaria, hydroa aestivale and hydroa vacciniforme: we would recommend their use in these conditions only after the more standard treatments for these diseases have proven ineffective for a given patient. Carotenoid treatment seems to be of no use in porphyria cutanea tarda and actinic reticuloid.
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PMID:Treatment of erythropoietic protoporphyria with beta-carotene. 653 27