Although psoriasis and eczema are completely different diseases, they can look very similar, even under a microscope, and sometimes dermatologists have to use all their experience to distinguish one disease from another, according to Pannochka, an online publication for girls and women from 14 to 35 years old.. net Now, researchers from Germany, who have studied in detail the molecular mechanisms of the development of psoriasis and eczema, propose using a two-gene test that allows you to make a diagnosis with 100% accuracy..

Researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum and the Technische Universitat Munchen (TUM) announced their development in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Psoriasis and eczema are non-contagious inflammatory skin conditions that appear as itchy red patches.. But psoriasis can also be a systemic disease affecting other organs..

In their article, scientists tell how diverse the skin manifestations of both diseases can be, and how difficult it is for a doctor in some cases to visually distinguish them.. At the same time, the genes involved in these diseases are completely different.. This is probably why previous attempts by different researchers to compare psoriasis and eczema at the molecular level have not been successful..

In the course of their work, the team took a different approach - they looked for genetic differences in the cells of patients with both diseases.. Using tissue samples from 24 patients with eczema and psoriasis, scientists have identified genes and signaling pathways that are unique to each disease..

Study co-author Fabian Theis, a professor at the Institute for Computational Biology at the Helmholtz Center, says they "

Among other differences, it should be noted that psoriasis-specific genes are both important regulators of glucose metabolism, while eczema-specific genes are associated with the epidermal barrier and innate immunity..

From further analysis of the two selected genes - NOS2 and CCL27 - the scientists concluded that it was possible to create a reliable genetic classifier of diseases.. They then showed on a larger group of patients that a test for these two genes could accurately diagnose all 28 cases of eczema and 25 cases of psoriasis without making a single mistake..

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Scientists hope that a test based on a new two-gene disease classifier will eliminate the further occurrence of such errors in clinical practice and eliminate the unnecessary costs and stress associated with them..

In recent years, many specific highly effective treatments for both eczema and psoriasis have been developed, but they are effective for only one of these diseases, and they cost a lot of money.. In the US, each of these highly effective treatments costs tens of thousands of dollars per patient per year..

The researchers are also going to create another test that can compare samples of healthy and diseased skin.. They say these discoveries are a huge step towards personalized medicine in dermatology.. Similar things are already being implemented in oncology, where doctors can now test for genetic mutations in cancer cells and predict the sensitivity of cancer to chemotherapy..

medbe. en.