Patients with co-existing psoriasis and eczema: key to understand the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory skin diseases

• Applicants: Professor Kilian Eyerich, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Fabian Theis
• Subject Area: Dermatology ; Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 282660335

• Final Report Year: 2021

Final Report Abstract

The aim of the funded project was to identify molecular pathways of clinically meaningful outcomes in patients with psoriasis or atopic dermatitis. The underlying rationale was to acknowledge the heterogeneity of both of these diseases by using human models of patients that suffer from both diseases in parallel. During the ongoing project, this was specified to acknowledging disease heterogeneity by combining lesional transcriptome data with deep clinical phenotyping. Using this approach, it was also possible to expand the hypothesis to further inflammatory skin diseases. We developed an analysis pipeline that allowed to identify genetic signatures of clinically meaningful outcomes and biological processes. This resulted in identification of several new potential targets, both for treatment and diagnostics of inflammatory skin diseases. In parallel, the findings were translated into diagnostic products by development of a microfluidic platform that produces molecular test results fully automated at the point of need. Thus, the project has served as a proof-of-principle for a scientific hypothesis that is currently expanded and followed up as well as a translational approach that might enable us to use the produced scientific results in daily clinical practice.

Publications

• Dissecting susceptibility from exogenous triggers: the model of alopecia areata and associated inflammatory skin diseases. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2015; 29:2429-35
  Garzorz N, Alsisi M, Todorova A, Atenhan A, Thomas J, Lauffer F, Ring J, Schmidt-Weber C, Biedermann T, Eyerich S, Eyerich K
  
• NOS2 and CCL27: Clinical implications for psoriasis and eczema management. Exp Rev Clin Immunol. 2015; 11: 167-9
  Garzorz N, Eyerich K
  
• A novel molecular disease classifier for psoriasis and eczema. Exp Dermatol. 2016; 25: 767-74
  Garzorz N, Krause L, Lauffer F, Attenhan A, Thomas J, Stark SP, Franz R, Weidinger S, Balato A, Mueller NS, Theis FJ, Ring J, Schmidt-Weber CB, Biedermann T, Eyerich S, Eyerich K
  
• Immune response patterns in non-communicable inflammatory skin diseases. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2018; 32: 692-703
  Eyerich K, Eyerich S
  
• Type I Immune Response Induces Keratinocyte Necroptosis and Is Associated with Interface Dermatitis. J Invest Dermatol. 2018 Aug;138(8):1785-1794
  Lauffer F, Jargosch M, Krause L, Garzorz-Stark N, Franz R, Roenneberg S, Böhner A, Mueller NS, Theis FJ, Schmidt-Weber CB, Biedermann T, Eyerich S, Eyerich K
  
• Is the humoral immunity dispensable for the pathogenesis of psoriasis? J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2019 Jan;33(1):115-122
  Thomas J, Küpper M, Batra R, Jargosch M, Atenhan A, Baghin V, Krause L, Lauffer F, Biedermann T, Theis FJ, Eyerich K, Eyerich S, Garzorz-Stark N
  
• Integration of phenomics and transcriptomics data to reveal drivers of inflammatory processes in the skin. bioRxiv 2020.07.25.221309
  Batra R, Garzorz-Stark N, Lauffer F, Jargosch M, Pilz AC, Roenneberg S, Schäbitz A, Böhner A, Seiringer P, Thomas J, Fereydouni B, Kutkaite G, Menden M, Tsoi LC, Gudjonsson JE, Theis FJ, Biedermann T, Schmidt-Weber CB, Müller N, Eyerich S, Eyerich K