RESEARCH ARTICLE
Stratum Corneum Biomarkers in Atopic Dermatitis: Biological and Spatial Variability
Ruzica Jurakic Toncic1, Sanja Kezic2, Suzana Ljubojevic Hadzavdic1, Branka Marinovic1, Ivone Jakasa3, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2020Volume: 10
First Page: 47
Last Page: 54
Publisher ID: TOBIOMJ-10-47
DOI: 10.2174/1875318302010010047
Article History:
Received Date: 30/12/2019Revision Received Date: 17/03/2020
Acceptance Date: 06/04/2020
Electronic publication date: 16/06/2020
Collection year: 2020
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Atopic dermatitis is a highly heterogeneous skin disease, mainly affecting children. Introduction of biological therapies has urged the development of biomarkers to facilitate personalized therapy. Stratum corneum biomarkers emerged as a promising non-invasive alternative to skin biopsy, yet validation of spatial and biological variability is essential for their application in clinical research.
Objective:
To assess spatial and biological variability of stratum corneum biomarkers for atopic dermatitis.
Methods:
Stratum corneum was collected from 17 atopic dermatitis patients by consecutive application of eight adhesive tapes to a lesional skin site and 2 cm and 4 cm from the lesion. Two non-lesional sites at a 2 cm distance from the same lesion were collected to determine biological variability. Filaggrin degradation products (NMF) were determined by liquid chromatography and thirteen cytokines (IL-4, IL-13, IL-18, IL-31, IL-33, CCL17, CCL22, CCL27, CXCL8, IL-1α, IL-RA, IL-18, IL-22) by multiplex immunoassay.
Results:
Biomarker levels showed gradual changes from lesional to non-lesional skin sites at 2 cm and 4 cm; magnitude and direction of change were biomarker-specific. Intra-subject variability ranged from 17.3% (NMF) to 85.1% (CXCL8). Biomarker levels from two stratum corneum depths were highly correlated; several biomarkers showed significant depth dependence.
Conclusion:
Stratum corneum enables non-invasive collection of relevant immune and epidermal biomarkers, but biomarker-specific spatial and biological variability emphasizes the importance of standardized procedures for stratum corneum collection.
