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July 29, 2020
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Tape strips identify biomarkers for atopic dermatitis, psoriasis

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Distinct immune and barrier signatures for atopic dermatitis and psoriasis were identified using RNA-sequencing tape strips, according to a study.

Twenty D-Squame (CuDerm) tape strips were collected from 20 patients with atopic dermatitis, 20 patients with psoriasis and 20 control subjects. Skin cells from each strip then underwent RNA sequencing and molecular profiling to identify biomarkers for disease.

Emma Guttman-Yassky

Total sample recovery rate was 96%, with 100% and 95% recovery of lesional and nonlesional psoriasis, respectively, 95% for both lesional and nonlesional AD, and 95% for controls.

Tape-stripped skin in AD patients showed preferential TH2 polarization, while those with psoriasis showed TH17/TH1 polarization, according to the study. The tape strips found complete discrimination between AD and psoriasis, with accurate detection of cytokines and pathways.

“This is very important to get to personalized medicine because you can understand the patient’s phenotypes,” Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, told Healio. “This is a noninvasive technique. ... It doesn’t scar. And we are able to distinguish a single biomarker to differentiate 100% between eczema and psoriasis.”

This study could have clinical implications as a way to provide a minimally invasive alternative to skin biopsies in these diseases, she said.