Topical Ruxolitinib in the Treatment of Necrobiosis Lipoidica: A Prospective, Open-Label Study

Necrobiosis Lipoidica (NL) is a rare granulomatous disease. There are few effective treatments for NL. We sought to investigate the efficacy and safety of the JAK 1/2 inhibitor, ruxolitnib, in the treatment of NL and identify biomarkers associated with disease and treatment response. We conducted an open-label, phase 2 study of ruxolitinib in 12 patients with NL. We performed transcriptomic analysis of tissue samples pre- and post-treatment. At week 12, the mean NL lesion score decreased by 58.2% (SD 28.7%, P=0.003). Transcriptomic analysis demonstrated enrichment of type I and type II interferon pathways in baseline disease. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) demonstrated post-treatment changes in interferon pathways with key hub genes IFNG and STAT1. Limitations include small sample size and a study group limited to patients with <10% BSA. In conclusion, ruxolitinib is an effective treatment for NL and targets the key pathogenic mediators of disease. Whole transcriptomic sequencing was performed on lesional and control (normal skin) tissue before therapy (n = 12 and 12, respectively) and lesional responsive and refractory after therapy (n = 8 and 4, respectively).