Using advanced bioinformatics methods for gene identification and sequencing, researchers are mapping how signaling pathways are distributed in both healthy skin and skin affected by acne.
Acne is the most frequently occurring skin disorder globally and can have profound psychological impacts on those affected, particularly adolescents.
This condition is characterized by excess lipid production in hair follicles, abnormal keratinocyte growth, bacterial interactions, and a variety of inflammatory responses involving macrophages. However, there is still a limited understanding of the disrupted signaling pathways – the mechanisms of cell communication – that lead to skin changes in acne.
Min Deng, PhD, at the George W. Agak Laboratory along with colleagues at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, are pioneering this research by thoroughly mapping the distribution of signaling pathways in both normal and acne-impacted skin.
Through their analysis, they discovered two major disrupted pathways: the GRN-SORT1 axis in TREM2 macrophages and the IL-13-IL-13RA1 axis in keratinocytes, both of which are consistently overactive in acne lesions. Their comparative study highlighted alterations in 49 distinct pathways across seven different cell types between healthy and acne-affected skin.
The results indicate that adjusting these altered signaling pathways via gene therapy might be a promising strategy for creating new acne treatments, particularly those aimed at the early stages of lesion formation.
