Clinical Observation and Mechanistic Insights of Traditional Thai Oral Formulations with Herbal Cream on Psoriasis Through Molecular Docking

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Thai herbal medicine is an ancient Thai approach to the treatment of psoriasis. However, its treatment of psoriasis has no evidence of clinical study evidence, and its mechanism remains unclear. The present study investigated the therapeutic effects and mechanism of action of Thai herbal formulations in treating psoriasis. A single-arm pre–post design study on traditional Thai medicine was conducted with twenty psoriasis patients presenting plaque, guttate, and erythrodermic types throughout a continuous period of 12 weeks. The outcome measurements, including Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and hematological and safety parameters, were assessed at baseline and post-therapy. Molecular docking was employed to clarify the mechanism of action for psoriasis-targeting therapies. The preliminary clinical observations demonstrated that Thai herbal formulations significantly improved both psoriasis severity and quality of life post-therapy (p < 0.05) for plaque, guttate, and erythrodermic psoriasis, without serious adverse effects. Additionally, molecular docking analyses indicated that Thai herbal formulations could interact with the protein targets cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and interleukin (IL)-6, therefore alleviating psoriasis symptoms by modulating inflammatory pathways. The findings suggested that Thai herbal formulations may function through multi-target mechanisms, exhibiting potential as natural therapeutic medicines for psoriasis.