Question-Driven Selection of Psoriasis Animal Models: A Structured Narrative Review of 48 Model Records.

Abstract

Animal models connect psoriasis mechanisms to preclinical testing, but no model is informative for every question. This structured narrative review used PubMed, supplemented by reference-list screening and manual checks, to identify 29 original studies contributing 48 model records. One reviewer conducted screening and extraction, with targeted verification by a second reviewer. Within the selected records, IMQ- and IL-23-induced models primarily addressed acute inflammatory pathways, genetically engineered and composite models tested defined perturbations, humanized models examined human immune responses, and relapse models examined post-resolution reactivation. Composite designs were the largest category (22/48, 45.8%), whereas TRM were experimentally assessed in 6/48 (12.5%). We integrated model construction, disease-stage suitability and mechanism-evidence patterns into a conceptual question-driven framework linking prespecified objectives to candidate initial models, complementary validation and interpretation boundaries. The framework is a hypothesis-generating planning aid that has not undergone independent validation. Focused questions may be addressed with a single model, whereas complex mechanistic or translational questions require complementary models and comparison with human data.