Non-Invasive Human Skin Transcriptome Analysis Using mRNA in Skin Surface Lipids

April 2021 in “ bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) ”

Tsukasa Inoue, Tetsuya Kuwano, Yuya Uehara, Masayuki Yano, Oya N, Akira Hachiya, Yūzō Takahashi, Nakao Ota, Takatoshi Murase

TLDR The conclusion is that analyzing RNA from skin oils is a promising way to understand skin diseases.

The study demonstrated that measurable human mRNAs can be found in skin surface lipids (SSLs), which are protected from degradation by sebum. By modifying the AmpliSeq transcriptome analysis, researchers were able to measure SSL-RNAs, which were found to predominantly contain mRNAs from sebaceous glands, epidermis, and hair follicles. The non-invasive collection and analysis of SSL-RNAs from patients with atopic dermatitis showed an increase in the expression of inflammation-related genes and a decrease in terminal differentiation-related genes, aligning with previous findings. Additionally, lipid synthesis-related genes were found to be downregulated in the sebaceous glands of these patients. These findings suggest that SSL-RNA analysis could be a promising method for understanding the pathophysiology of skin diseases.

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