Atopic dermatitis (eczema) is an inflammatory skin disorder known for making the skin red and itchy. According to Penn Medicine, around 16.5 million adults in the United States suffer from this skin disease. Atopic Dermatitis is a long-lasting and chronic disease that tends to flare up periodically and is sometimes accompanied by asthma or hey fever. Until today, there is no cure for Atopic Dermatitis, however, there are different treatments that can prevent new outbreaks and relieve itchiness and clinical trials are constantly researching for new solutions to increase the quality of life of many people living with the disorder. There are currently around 140 active or recruiting studies in the United States.
Let’s look at some developments in Atopic Dermatitis research and what this means for patients in the future.
Promising therapy identified in an early-stage clinical trial
Researchers from the Medical Research Council Human Immunology Unit at the University of Oxford were leading a small proof-of-concept trial for a new therapy called Etokimab. This therapy is targeting the immune system, which showed promising results for Atopic Dermatitis. This initial study is the first clinical trial in humans showing the chance of treating Atopic Dermatitis by targeting an immune signaling molecule called IL-33. These results have led to a new clinical trial study with around 300 patients to test the method further.
Throughout the first clinical trial with 12 patients treated with etokimab, participants showed a reduction in their physical symptoms after their treatment with 83% achieving this improvement after 29 days. Further, the study also showed that after the named 29 days, a 40% reduction in the immune cell eosinophils was found in the blood. This immune cell is involved in allergic sensitivity.
New findings in Atopic Dermatitis research in Zurich
Scientists from the University of Zurich in Switzerland have shown that the immune system is responsible for maintaining a balance on our skin, which densely populated by fungi. The study researched the relationship between skin disease and our immune system and has demonstrated that the same immune cells protecting us against skin fungi also encourages inflammatory symptoms of Atopic Dermatitis.
Throughout the clinical trial, researchers were able to show that Malassezia fungi stimulated our immune system in a way to produce the cytokine interleukin-17. If cytokine is not released or not produced at all, the usually harmless fungi can grow and infest the skin, disturb the balance on our skin and thus encourage skin allergies. The fungi can become an allergen on our skin and trigger the overreaction of the immune system that can then trigger inflammatory symptoms of Atopic Dermatitis. What does this mean for future research? The study suggests that therapeutic antibody therapy could potentially neutralize the effect of interleukin-17 and is already used for psoriasis treatments as well. However, further research needs to be conducted to ensure the effectiveness of this therapy.
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