Role of immunomodulation in diseases responsive to phototherapy

Within the last two decades phototherapy has turned out to be a major therapeutic strategy in dermatology and thus has significantly influenced the treatment of many dermatoses. The goals of therapeutic photomedicine are the suppression of ongoing disease processes and, more importantly, the prevention, modulation, or abrogation of pathogenic mechanisms causing the disease. Therapeutic photomedicine has been largely empirical and most of it is still empirical today. However, parts of it are already based on the advances in photoimmunology and molecular biology. Although, we are far from a detailed understanding of the mechanisms underlying phototherapy, there is increasing evidence that phototherapy acts via modulation of the immune system. Most of the effects of both ambient and therapeutic ultraviolet radiation are immunosuppressive in nature.