Hair Eruption Initiates and Commensal Skin Microbiota Aggravate Adverse Events of Anti-EGFR Therapy

The study by Klufa et al. explored the adverse skin effects of anti-EGFR therapy, commonly used in cancer treatment. They found that inhibiting EGFR disrupts the ability of skin stem cells to maintain a protective barrier during hair eruption, allowing microorganisms to invade and cause inflammation similar to atopic dermatitis. This process involves a TH2-dominated immune response and can lead to chronic folliculitis. The researchers identified that restoring epidermal ERK signaling, through methods like FGF7 treatment, could mitigate these skin issues without directly reactivating EGFR. This discovery provided a potential therapeutic approach to manage the skin toxicities associated with EGFR-targeted cancer therapies.