Identification of novel immune and barrier genes in atopic dermatitis by means of laser capture microdissection

This is the first report that establishes robust epidermal and dermal genomic signatures of lesional and nonlesional AD skin and normal skin compared with whole tissues. These data establish the utility of laser capture microdissection to separate different compartments and cellular subsets in patients with AD, allowing localization of key barrier or immune molecules and enabling detection of gene products usually not detected on arrays. Laser capture microdissection was performed to separate the epidermis and dermis of lesional and nonlesional skin from patients with AD and normal skin from healthy volunteers, followed by gene expression (microarrays and real-time PCR) and immunostaining studies.

本研究为首篇在全组织样本对照下，明确特应性皮炎（Atopic Dermatitis, AD）皮损处、非皮损处皮肤及正常皮肤的表皮与真皮稳健基因组特征的学术报告。本研究获取的数据集证实了激光捕获显微切割（Laser Capture Microdissection）在特应性皮炎患者样本中分离不同皮肤分区与细胞亚群的应用价值，可实现关键皮肤屏障或免疫分子的定位，并能检测出基因芯片通常无法检出的基因表达产物。本次研究采用激光捕获显微切割技术，分离特应性皮炎患者皮损处、非皮损处皮肤的表皮与真皮组分，以及健康志愿者的正常皮肤样本，随后开展基因表达检测（涵盖基因芯片与实时定量聚合酶链反应（Real-Time PCR））及免疫染色实验。