Stratum corneum lipid and cytokine biomarkers at age 2 months predict the future onset of atopic dermatitis

Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) commonly occurs in children and can progress into severe phenotypes or atopic march, causing significant impairment in quality of life. It is important to find early biomarkers of future onset of AD before any clinical manifestations. Objective We sought to find early predictors of future onset of AD in skin stratum corneum (SC). Methods Skin tape strips were collected from the forearm of newborns (n = 111) with and without family history of atopic diseases at the age of 2 months before any signs of clinical AD. Children were clinically monitored until they reached age 2 years to ensure the presence or absence of AD. Skin tape strips were subjected to lipidomic analyses by the liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry and cytokine determination by Meso Scale Discovery U-Plex assay. Results Overall, 22 of 74 (29.7%) and 5 of 37 (13.5%) infants developed AD in the risk group and the control group, respectively. In the SC of future AD children, protein-bound ceramides were decreased (P < .001), whereas unsaturated sphingomyelin species (P < .0001) and “short-chain” nonhydroxy fatty acid sphingosine and alpha-hydroxy fatty acid sphingosine ceramides were elevated (P < .01 and .05, respectively) as compared with healthy children. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin and IL-13 levels were increased in the SC of future AD subjects (by 74.5% and 78.3%, P = .0022 and P < .0001, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed strong AD predicting power of the combination of family history, type 2 cytokines, and dysregulated lipids, with an odds ratio reaching 54.0 (95% CI, 9.2-317.5). Conclusions Noninvasive skin tape strip analysis at age 2 months can identify asymptomatic children at risk of future AD development with a high probability. Atopic dermatitis (AD) commonly occurs in children and can progress into severe phenotypes or atopic march, causing significant impairment in quality of life. It is important to find early biomarkers of future onset of AD before any clinical manifestations. We sought to find early predictors of future onset of AD in skin stratum corneum (SC). Skin tape strips were collected from the forearm of newborns (n = 111) with and without family history of atopic diseases at the age of 2 months before any signs of clinical AD. Children were clinically monitored until they reached age 2 years to ensure the presence or absence of AD. Skin tape strips were subjected to lipidomic analyses by the liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry and cytokine determination by Meso Scale Discovery U-Plex assay. Overall, 22 of 74 (29.7%) and 5 of 37 (13.5%) infants developed AD in the risk group and the control group, respectively. In the SC of future AD children, protein-bound ceramides were decreased (P < .001), whereas unsaturated sphingomyelin species (P < .0001) and “short-chain” nonhydroxy fatty acid sphingosine and alpha-hydroxy fatty acid sphingosine ceramides were elevated (P < .01 and .05, respectively) as compared with healthy children. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin and IL-13 levels were increased in the SC of future AD subjects (by 74.5% and 78.3%, P = .0022 and P < .0001, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed strong AD predicting power of the combination of family history, type 2 cytokines, and dysregulated lipids, with an odds ratio reaching 54.0 (95% CI, 9.2-317.5). Noninvasive skin tape strip analysis at age 2 months can identify asymptomatic children at risk of future AD development with a high probability.