244: How Do Biologic Drugs For Chronic Skin Conditions Work? w/ Heather Zwickey, PhD

Are you trying to weigh the pros and cons of possibly using a biologic like Dupixent for your skin condition? Your immune system has such a complex relationship with one another, so it's important to have complete informed consent when starting one. Look into all the side effects- they could be actually helpful, but they could also lead to cancer!

My guest today, Heather Zwickey, earned a Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Colorado and completed a postdoctoral fellowship and taught at Yale University School of Medicine.

Dr. Zwickey is recognized internationally as an expert and educator in the fields of integrative medicine, natural therapies and the immune system and has been leading natural medicine research for 20 years. Heather speaks at conferences world-wide, sharing her enthusiasm for naturopathic medicine and science. She currently serves as the Director of Communication and Innovation at Thaena Inc., a microbiome-based company.

Join us as we talk about how biologic drugs for chronic skin conditions work.

Did you know about the relationship between your immune system and your skin? Let me know in the comments!

In this episode:

Biologic drugs - what are they, how are they prescribed, and what do they do?
Real side effects of biologics - the bad and even the good
Breaking down what cytokines are (in layman's terms)
Cytokines and the JAK/STAT pathway
Discussion of JAK inhibitors (the newest version of biologic drugs for skin issues)

Quotes

“Back when we used things like methotrexate for skin disorders, we would see that the entire immune system was blocked and as a result, there would be side effects of things like cancer. When we're only blocking one protein, we have much less severe side effects.” [2:59]

“If your skin is not in balance with its microbes, it will affect your gut. We really got to address that. That is the root cause, and usually the way that we're going to address that is with eating more plant-based foods and getting some of the toxins out of our system, and letting those microbes grow the way that they were supposed to grow in normal ecosystems.” [17:47]

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