Researchers discover rosacea treatment pathway

Researchers have identified a potential pathway through which inflammation in rosacea might be treated.

Anna Di Nardo, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the University of California-San Diego, and colleagues identified a protein receptor that plays a role in activating mast cells in the skin of people with rosacea, according to a press release from the National Rosacea Society.

This new discovery built on previous research that mast cells are part of the process in which certain types of cathelicidins, which are overproduced in those with rosacea, are activated.

In the recent study, Di Nardo and colleagues have found that transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) activates mast cells in people with rosacea.

The researchers injected cathelicidins into mice bred to exhibit human-like rosacea symptoms. They found increases in TRPV2 and TRPV4 and, through further tests in mouse and human mast cell cultures, found that TRPV4 regulates the inflammation caused by mast cells.

Di Nardo and colleagues also found that the protein MRGX2 is the likely pathway for TRPV4 activation, and by turning it off they could prevent the mast cells from triggering the inflammatory immune response.

“Although more work needs to be done, these findings suggest that potential therapies may be developed specifically to block TRPV4 as a direct means of treating or preventing inflammation in patients with rosacea,” Di Nardo said in the release.