TY - JOUR
T1 - Actinic keratosis and surrounding skin exhibit changes in corneocyte surface topography and decreased levels of filaggrin degradation products
AU - Keurentjes, Anne J.
AU - de Witt, Kornelis D.
AU - Jakasa, Ivone
AU - Rüther, Lars
AU - Kemperman, Patrick M. J. H.
AU - Kezic, Sanja
AU - Riethmüller, Christoph
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - Actinic keratosis (AK) is a frequent premalignant skin lesion mainly caused by chronic sun exposure. AK lesions are often surrounded by invisible, subclinical alterations, called field of cancerization (FoC). Definition of FoC is of importance for therapy management; however, the criteria and non-invasive tools to characterize FoC are lacking. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) proved to be a suitable tool for detection of changes in the corneocyte surface topography in inflammatory skin diseases, which share similar clinical features with AK such as hyper- and parakeratosis. Therefore, in this study we applied AFM to investigate AK and surrounding skin obtained by non-invasive collection of the stratum corneum (SC) with adhesive tapes. Furthermore, we determined degradation products of structural protein filaggrin (natural moisturizing factor, NMF), which previously showed association with the changes in corneocyte surface topography. Ten patients with multiple AK on the face were recruited from the outpatient clinic. SC samples were collected from the AK lesion, skin sites adjacent to the AK, 5 cm from the AK and retroauricular area. Corneocyte surface topography was determined by AFM, and NMF by liquid chromatography. The AK lesion showed alterations of the corneocyte surface topography characterized by an increased number of nanosize protrusions, which gradually decreased with the distance from the lesion. NMF levels show an inverse pattern. Atomic force microscopy showed to be a suitable tool to detect changes in the corneocyte surface topography on the AK lesion and surrounding skin in a non-invasive manner.
AB - Actinic keratosis (AK) is a frequent premalignant skin lesion mainly caused by chronic sun exposure. AK lesions are often surrounded by invisible, subclinical alterations, called field of cancerization (FoC). Definition of FoC is of importance for therapy management; however, the criteria and non-invasive tools to characterize FoC are lacking. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) proved to be a suitable tool for detection of changes in the corneocyte surface topography in inflammatory skin diseases, which share similar clinical features with AK such as hyper- and parakeratosis. Therefore, in this study we applied AFM to investigate AK and surrounding skin obtained by non-invasive collection of the stratum corneum (SC) with adhesive tapes. Furthermore, we determined degradation products of structural protein filaggrin (natural moisturizing factor, NMF), which previously showed association with the changes in corneocyte surface topography. Ten patients with multiple AK on the face were recruited from the outpatient clinic. SC samples were collected from the AK lesion, skin sites adjacent to the AK, 5 cm from the AK and retroauricular area. Corneocyte surface topography was determined by AFM, and NMF by liquid chromatography. The AK lesion showed alterations of the corneocyte surface topography characterized by an increased number of nanosize protrusions, which gradually decreased with the distance from the lesion. NMF levels show an inverse pattern. Atomic force microscopy showed to be a suitable tool to detect changes in the corneocyte surface topography on the AK lesion and surrounding skin in a non-invasive manner.
KW - actinic keratosis
KW - atomic force microscopy
KW - filaggrin
KW - stratum corneum
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081751905&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1111/exd.14089
DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/exd.14089
M3 - Article
C2 - 32112584
SN - 0906-6705
VL - 29
SP - 462
EP - 466
JO - Experimental dermatology
JF - Experimental dermatology
IS - 5
ER -