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Distinct transcriptomic profiles of early-onset atopic dermatitis in blood and skin of pediatric patients

ABSTRACT: Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) predominantly affects young children, but our understanding of AD pathogenesis is based on skin and blood samples from longstanding adult AD. Genomic biopsy profiling from early pediatric AD showed significant Th2 and Th17/Th22-skewing, without the characteristic adult Th1 up-regulation. Since obtaining pediatric biopsies is difficult, blood gene expression profiling may provide a surrogate for the pediatric skin signature. Objective: To define the blood profile and associated biomarkers of early moderate-to-severe pediatric AD. Methods: We compared microarrays and RT-PCR of blood cells from 28 AD children (<5yrs and within 6 months of disease onset) to healthy control blood cells. Differentially expressed genes/DEGs in blood (fold change/FCH>1.2 and false discovery rate/FDR<0.05) were then compared with skin DEGs. Results: Eosinophil and Th2 markers (IL5RA, IL1RL1/ST2, HRH4, CCR3, SIGLEC8, PRSS33, CLC from gene arrays; IL13/IL4/CCL22 from RT-PCR) were upregulated in early pediatric AD blood, while IFNG/Th1 was decreased. Th1 markers were negatively correlated with clinical severity (EASI, pruritus, transepidermal water loss/TEWL), whereas Th2/Th17-induced IL19 was positively correlated with SCORAD. While a few RT-PCR-defined immune markers (IL13/CCL22) were increased in blood, as previously also reported for skin, there was minimal overlap based on gene array DEGs. Conclusion: The whole blood signature of early moderate-to-severe pediatric AD blood cells show predominantly a Th2/eosinophil profile, but markers largely differ from the skin profile. Given their complementarity, pooling of biomarkers from blood and skin may improve profiling and predictions, providing insight regarding disease course allergic comorbidity development, and response to systemic medications.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE116486 | GEO | 2018/12/06

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common disease, with an increasing prevalence. The primary pathogenesis of the disease is still elusive, resulting in lack of specific treatments. The prevailing view is that AD is a biphasic, T-cell polarized disease, with Th2 predominating acute AD, and a switch to Th1 characterizing chronic disease. Identification of factors that participate in onset of lesions and maintenance of chronic lesions is critical for development of targeted therapeutics. We performed global genomic, molecular and cellular profiling of paired non-lesional, acute, and chronic skin biopsies from ten AD patients. Onset of acute lesions is associated with a striking increase in a subset of terminal differentiation proteins, specifically the IL-22-modulated S100A7-9. Correspondingly, acute disease is associated with significant increases in gene expression levels of the major Th22- (IL-22) and Th2- (IL-4, IL-31) cytokines and Th17-regulated genes (CCL20, PI3/Elafin), without significant changes in IL-17. A lesser induction of Th1- (IFNγ, MX-1, CXCL9-11) associated genes was detected in acute disease. Chronic skin lesions are characterized by significantly intensified activation of Th22, Th2 and Th1. Our data establish increased expression of S100A7-9 and other epidermal genes at onset of acute AD, with parallel activation of Th2 and Th22 cytokines. Our findings suggest an absence of switch mechanism in chronic disease and instead indicate that progression to chronic lesions is associated with intensified activation of immune axes that initiate onset of acute lesions, particularly Th22 and Th2. This alters the prevailing view of pathogenesis, with important therapeutic implications. Acute, chronic, and non-lesional skin samples were collected from ten patients with moderate-to-severe AD that met our inclusion criteria, under an institutional review board–approved protocol. The following criteria were employed to define acute AD and distinguish true acute from “acute on chronic” skin lesions: a) new lesions of <72 hours duration, as previously defined;14 b) lack of skin lichenification; c) lack of regenerative hyperplasia, as defined by epidermal thickness ≤150μ [hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)] and basal or confluent supra-basal Keratin 16 (K16) positivity. No systemic or topical treatments were allowed for ≥4 weeks prior to biopsies. Biopsy specimens were frozen in optimal cutting temperature (OCT) for immunohistochemistry (IHC) and liquid nitrogen for RNA extraction.

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Distinct transcriptomic profiles of early-onset atopic dermatitis in blood and skin of pediatric patients

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