Skin Ceramide Profile in Children With Atopic Dermatitis.

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common disease, which involves a disruption of the skin barrier function. Skin ceramide (CER) composition, which plays crucial roles in maintaining the barrier function of the stratum corneum, is changed in patients with AD.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify and quantify skin CER subclasses in association with disease severity in pediatric patients with AD.

METHODS: Two hundred thirteen patients were entered into the observational study. We compared their CER profiles using normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with dynamic multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry.

RESULTS: In total, 12 subclasses of CERs were identified. We found that 2 subclasses, that is, CER[AS] and CER[NS], were elevated (P = 0.007 and 0.012, respectively) and correlated with Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis (P = 0.004 and 0.004, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: Skin CER abundances are changed in children with AD compared with control subjects.