Alteration of the whole skin gene expression as a result of Flg deficiency

Defects of filaggrin (FLG) compromise epidermal barrier function and represent an important known genetic risk factor for atopic dermatitis (AD), but also for systemic atopy, including allergic sensitization and asthma. A loss of epidermal barrier integrity can provide a significant stress for the cells in both the epidermis as well as the underlying dermal layer of the skin, either due to the increased moisture evaporation from the skin or increased penetration of the antigens and microflora into the lower layers. This analysis was therefore designed to understand the effect of this loss of barrier integrity on the total skin transcriptional profile. Total shaved back skin tissue samples were collected from 8 week old Flg-deficient mice and wt ctrls Total RNA was isolated using the RNeasy Mini Kit+ (Qiagen). mRNA libraries were prepared using a SMART protocol and subjected to deep sequencing on an Illumina NextSeq 500.