Acne flare-up in treatment process: investigating the difference of gene expression in peripheral blood

Objectives: To identify gene expression changes in acne flare-up patients, thereby exploring the mechanisms of acne flare-up after treatment. Methods: 11 acne patients and 3 healthy people were divided into 4 groups (group1: 4 with flare-up, group2: 4 with improvement, group3: 3 without obvious changes, group4: healthy control). Peripheral blood of patients before and after isotretinoin or minocycline were collected. RNA-seq were used to detect the gene expression. We applied data in self-contrast and intergroup comparisons. Results: In the self-contrast of group1, 22 upregulated genes were involved in Toll-like receptor signaling pathway and inflammatory response. Comparing group1 and group3 before treatment, 1778 upregulated genes enriched in Th17 cell differentiation, while 57 downregulated genes enriched in defensive response to organism. Conclusions: The gene expression profiles of acne flare-up patients changed. Inflammatory, immune responses played a prominent role in acne flare-up process and relatively weak defensive response to microbes, comedogenesis might be risk factors. RNA-seq were used to detect the gene expressions in acne flare-up patients and healthy controls.