Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic debilitating systemic skin disease, resulting in painful inflammation and follicles in the armpit, groin, and genitalia regions. It affects 4% of the population, and the disease onset occurs in the second decade of a patient’s life with 2:3 of the patients being women. The patient is diagnosed by a physical examination and can be treated with topical, oral or intravenous antibiotic treatments. The treatments provide temporary relief, and some patients undergo surgical treatment to reduce the pain. Recently adalimumab (TNF-a inhibitor) has been approved for moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa, while no biological treatments are available for patients with mild disease.
THE MEDICAL NEED FOR BIOMARKERS IN HIDRADENITIS SUPPURATIVA
There is a need for biomarkers in hidradenitis suppurativa to improve diagnosis, determine disease severity, track disease activity, and therapeutic response. All of this will lead to improvement of patient management and reduce clinical trial size and length when developing new efficacious treatments.
WHY PROTEIN FINGERPRINT BIOMARKERS IN HIDRADENITIS SUPPURATIVA?
Hidradenitis Suppurativa is characterized as a dermatological disease where the tissue architecture is being remodeled. The main component of the skin are collagens, which are remodeled as a part of the normal homeostasis of the skin. In hidradenitis suppurativa, there is an imbalance of tissue build-up and tissue break down, resulting in a net degradation of the tissue. Protein fingerprint biomarkers can quantify skin tissue turnover directly in a serum sample and serve as a liquid biopsy.
