Key clinical point: Reduced DNA methylation of golli-myelin basic protein ( MBP) locus could serve as an important biomarker to determine the severity of atopic dermatitis (AD) in pediatric patients.
Major finding: Loss of DNA methylation and higher golli-MBP mRNA expression were observed in pediatric patients with AD (both P less than .0001) . The score in the intensity of symptoms increased with decreasing methylation levels in cg27400313, the differentially methylated CpG cluster of MBP gene ( P = .012).
Study details: The study used a discovery cohort of 24 pediatric patients with AD and 24 control participants to screen for DNA methylation. The results were further validated in an additional cohort of 224 pediatric patients with AD and 44 control participants.
Disclosures: The study was supported by grants from Ministry of Health and Welfare and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. The authors declared no conflict of interests.
Source: Chen KD et al. J Invest Dermatol. 2021 Jul 19. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2021.06.025 .