Inflammatory Role of Sex Steroids in Hidradenitis Suppurativa: An Androgenic Phenotype
April 2019
in “
Journal of the Endocrine Society
”
TLDR Sex hormones may be linked to inflammation in Hidradenitis Suppurativa.
The 2019 study "MON-218 Inflammatory Role of Sex Steroids in Hidradenitis Suppurativa: An Androgenic Phenotype" conducted by Duke University School of Medicine aimed to understand the role of sex hormones in the pathogenesis of Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS), an autoinflammatory skin disease more common in women and associated with hyper-androgenic disorders. The researchers analyzed mRNA microarray data from lesional and non-lesional HS skin from 17 patients with moderate to severe HS. They found a significant overlap between the transcriptional program of sex steroids and transcriptional changes observed in HS lesional skin. Specifically, androgen target genes were significantly enriched in innate immunity pathways. This suggests a functional link between the androgen signaling and the inflammatory process in HS lesions.