Sulfapyridine and Sulfone Type Drugs in Dermatology

Over approximately the past 2 decades drugs of the sulfapyridine and sulfone type have become well established in dermatologic practice as uniquely effective therapeutic agents in a puzzling variety of apparently unrelated disorders. Although these drugs were primarily introduced into medical practice as antibacterial substances, clinical experience has clearly demonstrated that their action in suppressing dermatologic disorders must rest on other than their antibacterial effect. The purpose of this communication is to survey reported dermatologic experience with these drugs and to report on observations with them at The University of Chicago Clinics. In addition, the hypothesis is proposed that the abnormal tissue reactivities characterizing the disorders responsive to these drugs share in their pathomechanisms some common denominator which is blocked by them. Elucidation of this hypothetical common denominator may well provide the key to understanding the natures of the puzzling disorders under consideration, solve the problem of mechanism of action