Specimen Collection for Translational Studies in Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Abstract

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by painful nodules, sinus tracts, and scars occurring predominantly in intertriginous regions. The prevalence of HS is currently 0.053–4%, with a predominance in African-American women and has been linked to low socioeconomic status. The majority of the reported literature is retrospective, population based, epidemiologic studies. In this regard, there is a need to establish a repository of biospecimens, which represent appropriate gender and racial demographics amongst HS patients. These efforts will diminish knowledge gaps in understanding the disease pathophysiology. Hence, we sought to outline a step-by-step protocol detailing how we established our HS biobank to facilitate the formation of other HS tissue banks. Equipping researchers with carefully detailed processes for collection of HS specimens would accelerate the accumulation of well-organized human biological material. Over time, the scientific community will have access to a broad range of HS tissue biospecimens, ultimately leading to more rigorous basic and translational research. Moreover, an improved understanding of the pathophysiology is necessary for the discovery of novel therapies for this debilitating disease. We aim to provide high impact translational research methodology for cutaneous biology research and foster multidisciplinary collaboration and advancement of our understanding of cutaneous diseases.

What causes hidradenitis suppurativa ?—15 years after

“…These observations suggest limitations to our knowledge and the importance of defining precise sample collections for mechanistic and clinical trial studies. 98 The mechanistic roles of these cells also remain speculative given the rarity of reliable in vitro, ex vivo 99 and in vivo 100 disease models. The interaction between cell types is an area requiring further molecular and functional investigation.…”

“…Perifollicular and interfollicular mixed inflammatory cell infiltrates have been identified in the superficial dermis of mild lesions; however, these are major attractors to inflammatory infiltrates in HS, independent of lesional or perilesional status, 97 different from the infiltrate found in mild disease. These observations suggest limitations to our knowledge and the importance of defining precise sample collections for mechanistic and clinical trial studies 98 . The mechanistic roles of these cells also remain speculative given the rarity of reliable in vitro, ex vivo 99 and in vivo 100 disease models.…”

“…Conducting inclusive, long‐term, controlled multi‐centre clinical trials investigating different biological agents or drugs with ancillary analyses of transcriptomes will leap forward the HS patient journey. These will build the foundations to fully integrate our HS transcriptome knowledge with clinical records, epidemiologic and demographic factors 98 …”

Target molecules for future hidradenitis suppurativa treatment

“…Indeed, conducting inclusive, long‐term, controlled multi‐centre clinical trials investigating different biological agents or drugs with ancillary analyses of transcriptomes based on next‐generation sequence studies will leap forward the HS patient journey. These will build the foundations to fully integrate our HS transcriptome knowledge with clinical records, epidemiologic and demographic factors 9,10 …”

Recent advances in hidradenitis suppurativa: Role of race, genetics, and immunology

“…At the clinical level, significant progress has been made to more accurately classify such disease heterogeneity (Frew et al, 2021b;Kirby, 2021), and outcome measures focused on patient-centered factors and clinically objective parameters have continued to be refined (Lyons et al, 2021). Notable efforts have been made in building national registries for patient data (Naik and Lowes, 2019;Adelekun et al, 2020) and clear protocols have actively been developed to use these data in conjunction with surgically obtained tissue specimens ("biobanking") for molecular studies (Byrd et al, 2019).…”