Cytokine concentration across the stratum corneum in atopic dermatitis and healthy controls

Maja-Lisa Clausen,S Kezic,C M Olesen,T Agner

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-78943-6

Maja-Lisa Clausen, S Kezic + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78943-6

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Abstract

Tape stripping is a promising technique for assessment of epidermal biomarkers in inflammatory skin diseases. However, to facilitate its implementation in the clinical practice, a thorough validation regarding sampling strategy is needed. Knowledge of biomarkers variation in concentration across stratum corneum is scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the variability of cytokines across stratum corneum using tape stripping technique by consecutive application of 21 adhesive tapes (D-squame) to lesional and non-lesional skin from 15 patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and 16 healthy controls. Concentration of cytokines (IL-1α, IL-1b, IL-5, IL-18, IFN-γ, CCL17, CCL22, CCL27, CXCL8, CXCL10, TNF-α, TSLP, VEGFA) was determined in five different depths, using multiplex immunoassay. Comparing tape 4 with tape 21, no cytokine changed significantly in concentration in AD lesional skin. In AD non-lesional skin a small decrease was found for CCL17, CXCL8 and CXCL10. For healthy controls, a decrease was found for IL-1a, IL-1b, VEGFA and an increase for IL-18. Differences were found between AD skin and healthy control skin. Concentration of cytokines was stable across stratum corneum, indicating that sampling of only one tape from the stratum corneum is reliable in reflecting the overall cytokine milieu. Differences between AD and healthy skin confirm robustness of tape stripping for measuring cytokine levels.

Highlights

Tape stripping is a promising technique for assessment of epidermal biomarkers in inflammatory skin diseases
Prior studies have shown that tape-strips capture the molecular phenotype of atopic dermatitis (AD) and other inflammatory skin diseases, and it is believed that molecular profiling of material from tape strips may be useful in the clinical setting for objectively tracking disease activity, and predicting disease course and treatment response
HC-non-lesional skin (NLS): 0.016 HC-lesional skin (LS): < 0.0001 NLS-LS: 0.0002. This is the first study aimed to investigate whether selected protein biomarkers are differentially expressed across the stratum corneum

Summary

Introduction

Tape stripping is a promising technique for assessment of epidermal biomarkers in inflammatory skin diseases. This study aimed to assess the variability of cytokines across stratum corneum using tape stripping technique by consecutive application of 21 adhesive tapes (D-squame) to lesional and non-lesional skin from patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and healthy controls. Tape stripping technique for collection of epidermal material for assessment of biomarkers has been introduced in research of inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic dermatitis (AD)[1,2,3,4,5,6]. The use of tape stripping for collecting stratum corneum material has been investigated and validated for evaluation of epidermal immune and barrier markers in both children and adults with AD1–4,6,11. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate changes in cytokine concentration across the stratum corneum in AD skin and healthy control skin. A secondary aim was to compare overall differences in cytokine concentration between skin of adult AD patients and adult healthy controls

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