![]() ![]() It is unknown whether other types of rashes will have similar genetic profiles to psoriasis and eczema or instead have their own unique fingerprints. Our RashX project initially focused on just two very common types of rashes, psoriasis and eczema. Lab tests that can illuminate the root causes of skin diseases can likely be expanded to many other conditions. For example, while certain drugs that act on the immune system are known to work well for conditions like psoriasis or eczema, many patients have atypical rashes that can’t be precisely diagnosed.Īn open source database like ours could help enable clinicians to profile and diagnose these rashes, providing a stepping stone to choose a suitable treatment.įurthermore, chronic inflammatory diseases that affect organs other than the skin share similar genetic abnormalities. The rapid development of drugs that target the immune system in recent years has inundated doctors with difficult treatment decisions for individual patients. A closely matching genetic fingerprint might yield clues as to what caused their patient’s rash and lead to potential treatment avenues. ![]() This database will allow clinicians to compare the genetic profile of their patients’ rashes to similar profiles in our database. To make our approach available to clinicians and scientists, we developed an open source web database called RashX that contains the genetic fingerprints of different rashes. Reprinted with permission from Yale Liu et al., Science Immunology 7:eabl9165 (2022) This diagram shows that the genetic fingerprint (colored in red and yellow) of eczema (AD, or atopic dermatitis) is stronger than that of psoriasis (PV). Instead of averaging the genetic signatures across all cell types in bulk, single-cell RNA sequencing analyses allow each cell to preserve its unique characteristics. Recent technological advances called single-cell RNA sequencing, however, have enabled scientists to preserve the identity of each type of cell that lives in the skin. Collapsing these unique cell communities into a single group may obscure genetic signatures essential to diagnosis. Cancer cells lend themselves to this form of testing because they often grow into recognizable masses that make them easy to isolate and analyze.īut skin is a complex mixture of cells. This genetic fingerprint helps oncologists predict whether a cancer will spread or which treatments might work best. Clinicians collect and analyze tumor biopsies from patients to determine a particular cancer’s unique molecular characteristics. Genetically testing tissue samples is standard practice for conditions like cancer. Traditional genetic analyses work by averaging out the activity of thousands of genes across millions of cells. Skin is a complex organ that performs a wide variety of functions. Using a new approach, my colleagues and I were able to analyze the genetic profiles of skin rashes and quantitatively diagnose their root causes. ![]() While almost all the various cell types in your skin can release chemicals that worsen inflammation, which ones leads to rash formation remains a mystery and may vary from patient to patient.īut molecular testing of skin rashes isn’t a common practice because of technological limitations. Scientists have long known that molecular abnormalities in skin cells cause the redness and scaliness seen in conditions like psoriasis and eczema. While examining the physical appearance of a skin sample under a microscope may work for more obvious skin conditions, many rashes can be difficult to distinguish from one another.Īt the molecular level, however, the differences between rashes become more clear. For decades, clinicians have largely been diagnosing rashes by eye. Your skin harbors dozens of distinct cell types, including those that form blood vessels, nerves and the local immune system of the skin. Rashes can be thought of as a dysfunctional community of skin cells. ![]()
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