Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
Exp Dermatol. 2020 May;29(5):462-466. doi: 10.1111/exd.14089. Epub 2020 Mar 13.
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.
光化性角化病（AK）是一种常见的皮肤癌前病变，主要由慢性阳光暴露引起。AK 病变周围经常存在肉眼不可见的亚临床改变，称为癌化域（FoC）。FoC 的定义对于治疗管理很重要；然而，目前还缺乏描述 FoC 的标准和非侵入性工具。原子力显微镜（AFM）已被证明是一种用于检测炎症性皮肤病中角朊细胞表面形貌变化的合适工具，这些疾病与 AK 具有相似的临床特征，如过度角化和角化不全。因此，在这项研究中，我们应用 AFM 研究了通过非侵入性采集角质层（SC）的粘性胶带获得的 AK 和周围皮肤。此外，我们还测定了结构蛋白丝聚蛋白（天然保湿因子，NMF）的降解产物，该蛋白先前与角朊细胞表面形貌的变化有关。从皮肤科门诊招募了 10 名面部有多处 AK 的患者。从 AK 病变、AK 相邻皮肤、距 AK 5cm 和耳后区域采集 SC 样本。通过 AFM 确定角朊细胞表面形貌，通过液相色谱法确定 NMF。AK 病变表现为角朊细胞表面形貌的改变，特征为纳米级突起数量增加，随着与病变的距离逐渐减少。NMF 水平呈相反模式。原子力显微镜显示是一种适合的工具，可以非侵入性地检测 AK 病变和周围皮肤角朊细胞表面形貌的变化。
