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The causes of complex diseases can be identified by representing them in the form of mathematically produced networks. This method was used to find bacteria that drive atopic dermatitis, for example.

Instead of searching for proteins that the immune system reacts against in a specific autoimmune disease, researchers have taken the opposite approach to find diseases linked to a certain protein. By searching among patients with various skin diseases, they identified a disease linked to autoimmunity against the skin protein TGM1. The strategy, which is presented in the journal PNAS, can facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases.

The common skin disease atopic eczema (AE) impacts heavily on the life quality and general health of sufferers. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now evaluated its treatment with internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT). The study suggests that patients feel better after iCBT compared with a control group who received only traditional treatment. The results, which are published in JAMA Dermatology, might eventually make important care available to a large patient group.

With the help of algorithms, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified markers that can differentiate between irritant eczema and contact allergy, two skin reactions that look similar but require different treatment. Their findings, which are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), support the further development of an alternative to today’s diagnostic patch tests.

Both eczema and psoriasis are inflammatory skin diseases that affect many individuals. Now, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have made progress in mapping new candidate genes for these hereditary skin diseases. This may in the long run open up new ways of treating the diseases. The findings are published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Our skin protects us from physical injury, radiation and microbes, and at the same time produces hair and facilitates perspiration. Details of how skin cells manage such disparate tasks have so far remained elusive. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have systematically mapped skin cells and their genetic programs, creating a detailed molecular atlas of the skin in its complexity. The study is published today in the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell.