Fig. 1: Clinical presentation and histopathology associated with imiquimod-induced psoriasis is mitigated through subcutaneous injection of IDO-Gal3.

a Timeline of the IMQ-induced mouse psoriasis model. b Clinical PASI scores of three criteria (erythema, scaling, and thickening of the skin) recorded daily from each animal (day 1–day 14). Psoriatic skin was subcutaneously injected with either sterile PBS (black circles) or IDO-Gal3 (red triangles) in equal volumes on day 3 of imiquimod application (black arrow labeled “Injection”). Cumulative score was calculated from the sum of individual criteria. c Area under the curve of cumulative clinical score between days 1 and 14 for each animal. d Representative images of skin from a naïve animal injected with sterile PBS (Naïve), a psoriatic animal injected with sterile PBS (IMQ + PBS), and a psoriatic animal injected with IDO-Gal3 (IMQ + IDO-Gal3). Average epidermal thickness (µm) measured from all naïve, psoriatic, and IDO-Gal3 animals. Scale bars 100 µm; data are mean ± SD; n = 12/group; clinical scores (cumulative and individual criteria) on day 14 compared using Kruskal-Wallis test with multiple comparisons; area under the curve and epidermal thickness compared using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001; ns not significant.