Micro-Regional Transcriptome Reveals Local Dermal-Epidermal Intercorrelation in Atopic Dermatitis

The study investigated the spatial gene expression profiles in skin affected by atopic dermatitis (AD) using site-specific RNA-seq on 100 μm-diameter regions from wild-type and AD model mice. By analyzing 120 spots from 14 areas, researchers found that non-lesion areas showed weak inflammatory cytokine gene expression in the dermis, and similar areas in lesions exhibited differences in gene expression. This novel method revealed disease status not detectable by conventional analysis. Correlation analysis of dermis-epidermis pairs showed that certain epidermal genes correlated with dermal inflammatory cytokine levels, with some showing positive and others negative correlations. These findings were confirmed in human tissues, demonstrating dermal-epidermal intercorrelation in inflammation and highlighting the potential of micro-regional transcriptomics for understanding skin pathology.