Imaging-guided tape stripping reveals consistent stratum corneum profiling of disease severity and…

Cohort studyJournal of dermatological science· Jul 2026

Imaging-guided tape stripping reveals consistent stratum corneum profiling of disease severity and treatment-responsive molecular features in pediatric atopic dermatitis.

Daniel Andersen, Oriol Yélamos, Marc Combalia … Susanne Brix

Inflammatory & ImmunodermatologyCohort studyQ1IF 3.1

Over 1100 genes are differentially expressed in atopic dermatitis skin compared to healthy skin.

Imaging-guided tape stripping reveals consistent stratum corneum profiling of disease severity and treatment-responsive molecular features in pediatric atopic dermatitis.

Daniel Andersen … Susanne Brix

Journal of dermatological science · Jul 2026 · Q1 in Dermatology

Background

Atopic dermatitis (atopic dermatitis) is a common pediatric skin disorder with early onset and complex pathophysiology.

Purpose

To evaluate the utility of imaging-guided tape stripping of stratum corneum, combined with transcriptomic and cytokine profiling, for characterizing molecular changes associated with disease severity and treatment response in pediatric atopic dermatitis.

Methods

By coupling real-time imaging-guided tape stripping with RNA sequencing and cytokine profiling, we examined stratum corneum molecular signatures in healthy children (n = 15) and lesional and non-lesional skin of pediatric atopic dermatitis patients (n = 39) with heterogeneous disease severity, both at baseline and following 2 weeks of topical corticosteroid treatment.

n = 15

> 1100 differentially expressed genes

Results

> 1100 differentially expressed genes

genes show different activity levels in atopic dermatitis skin compared to healthy skin

n = 15

More results

Lesional skin showed enrichment of type 17- and type 2-associated immune pathways, tissue remodeling, and cell cycle control.

Thirteen transcripts were significantly associated with clinical severity or itch, including CXCL8/IL8, CD300A, and FPR1.

More results

Most of these transcripts decreased after corticosteroid treatment, whereas CD300A and FCGR2B/CD32 remained elevated in a subset of children.

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Conclusion

These findings support the use of real-time imaging-guided tape stripping as a standardized, minimally invasive approach for verifying stratum corneum sampling depth and monitoring molecular changes associated with disease activity and treatment response in pediatric atopic dermatitis.

Imaging-guided tape stripping reveals consistent stratum corneum profiling of disease severity and treatment-responsive molecular features in pediatric atopic dermatitis.

Imaging-guided tape stripping reveals consistent stratum corneum profiling of disease severity and treatment-responsive molecular features in pediatric atopic dermatitis.

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