Frings VG, Jopp L, Srivastava M, Presser D, Goebeler M, Schmidt M. Stress signaling and STAT1 activation characterize the keratinocytic gene expression pattern in Hidradenitis suppurativa.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2022;
36:2488-2498. [PMID:
35881108 DOI:
10.1111/jdv.18465]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The pathogenetic factors generating the innate immune signal necessary for T cell activation, initiation and chronification of Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS, also known as Acne inversa) are still poorly understood. Emerging evidence suggests that a defective keratinocyte function critically contributes to HS disease development and progression.
OBJECTIVES
To elucidate the role of keratinocytes in HS lesion formation, we compared the transcriptomes of lesional and perilesional epidermis isolated from HS patients by RNA sequencing (RNA Seq).
METHODS
Pairwise-matched lesional and perilesional HS skin samples of five different donors were obtained and epidermal keratinocytes freshly isolated and processed for RNA extraction and RNA seq. Lesionally regulated genes were analyzed by large scale promotor analysis and functional annotation clustering to identify epidermally overrepresented transcription factor binding sites and functionally related gene groups. Results were experimentally validated with independent epidermal isolates of patient-matched lesional and perilesional HS skin employing qRT-PCR, cell culture, immunoblot, and immunostaining.
RESULTS
We show that HS is characterized by a strong epidermal stress state evident by a significant overrepresentation of an AP-1-driven gene signature and a substantial activation of the stress-activated cJun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway in lesional epidermis. Additionally, our data reveal a strong induction of STAT1 activation in lesional HS epidermis that likely results from IFNγ production and triggered expression of key inflammatory genes coordinating innate immune activation and the adaptive T cell response in HS.
CONCLUSIONS
Our data implicate a key role of stress signaling and JAK/STAT1 activation in disease progression of HS and suggest interference with JAK/STAT1 signaling as a potentially promising therapeutic approach for HS.
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