Whole skin RNA-seq from severe acne patients treated with isotretinoin

Isotretinoin effectively targets major pathogenic of acne factors but carries teratogenic risks, and its precise mechanism of action remains incompletely understood. Computational approaches, such as connectivity mapping, can offer insights into a drugs mechanism and identify alternative compounds as potential novel therapeutics for acne. In this study, we examined transcriptomic responses in non-lesional skin of 18 severe acne patients before, during, and after isotretinoin treatment. Patients were separated into 3 groups for biopsy punch collection. Each patient had a treatment-naive biopsy, and then 6 patients/group had a second biopsy after approximately 1, 8, or 20 weeks of standard of care oral isotretinoin therapy. A select group of patients had a third biopsy collected 6 months after cessation of isotretinoin therapy. All biopsy punches were collected from non-lesional skin on the upper back.