1. ¹The Jake Gittlen Cancer Research Foundation, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA
2. ²Department of Health Evaluation Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA
3. ³Department of Dermatology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA

Correspondence: Dr Diane M. Thiboutot, Department of Dermatology, UPC-2 Rm 4300, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA. E-mail: dthiboutot@psu.edu

⁴These authors contributed equally to this work

Received 9 October 2005; Revised 10 December 2005; Accepted 3 January 2006; Published online 9 March 2006.

Abstract

The pathogenesis of acne has been linked to multiple factors such as increased sebum production, inflammation, follicular hyperkeratinization, and the action of Propionibacterium acnes within the follicle. In an attempt to understand the specific genes involved in inflammatory acne, we performed gene expression profiling in acne patients. Skin biopsies were obtained from an inflammatory papule and from normal skin in six patients with acne. Biopsies were also taken from normal skin of six subjects without acne. Gene array expression profiling was conducted using Affymetrix HG-U133A 2.0 arrays comparing lesional to nonlesional skin in acne patients and comparing nonlesional skin from acne patients to skin from normal subjects. Within the acne patients, 211 genes are upregulated in lesional skin compared to nonlesional skin. A significant proportion of these genes are involved in pathways that regulate inflammation and extracellular matrix remodeling, and they include matrix metalloproteinases 1 and 3, IL-8, human -defensin 4, and granzyme B. These data indicate a prominent role of matrix metalloproteinases, inflammatory cytokines, and antimicrobial peptides in acne lesions. These studies are the first describing the comprehensive changes in gene expression in inflammatory acne lesions and are valuable in identifying potential therapeutic targets in inflammatory acne.