Obesity and ethnicity alter gene expression in skin
Obesity and ethnicity alter gene expression in skin
Obesity is accompanied by dysfunction of many organs, but effects on the skin have received little attention. We studied differences in epithelial thickness by histology and gene expression by Affymetrix gene arrays and PCR in the skin of 10 obese (BMI 35-50) and 10 normal weight (BMI 18.5-26.9) postmenopausal women paired by age and ethnicity. Epidermal thickness did not differ with obesity but the expression of genes encoding proteins associated with skin blood supply and wound healing were altered. In the obese, many gene expression pathways were broadly downregulated and subdermal fat showed pronounced inflammation. There were no changes in skin microbiota or metabolites. African American subjects differed from European Americans with a trend to increased epidermal thickening. In obese African Americans, compared to obese European Americans, we observed altered gene expression that may explain known differences in water content and stress response. African Americans showed markedly lower expression of the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator characteristic of the disease cystic fibrosis. The results from this preliminary study may explain the functional changes found in the skin of obese subjects and African Americans.
Walker, Jeanne M.
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Garcet, Sandra
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Aleman, Jose O.
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Mason, Christopher E.
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Danko, David
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Zuffa, Simone
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Swann, Jonathan R.
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Krueger, James
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Breslow, Jan L.
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Holt, Peter R.
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1 December 2020
Walker, Jeanne M.
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Garcet, Sandra
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Aleman, Jose O.
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Mason, Christopher E.
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Danko, David
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Zuffa, Simone
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Swann, Jonathan R.
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Krueger, James
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Breslow, Jan L.
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Holt, Peter R.
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Walker, Jeanne M., Garcet, Sandra, Aleman, Jose O., Mason, Christopher E., Danko, David, Zuffa, Simone, Swann, Jonathan R., Krueger, James, Breslow, Jan L. and Holt, Peter R.
(2020)
Obesity and ethnicity alter gene expression in skin.
Scientific Reports, 10 (1), [14079].
(doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70244-2).
Abstract
Obesity is accompanied by dysfunction of many organs, but effects on the skin have received little attention. We studied differences in epithelial thickness by histology and gene expression by Affymetrix gene arrays and PCR in the skin of 10 obese (BMI 35-50) and 10 normal weight (BMI 18.5-26.9) postmenopausal women paired by age and ethnicity. Epidermal thickness did not differ with obesity but the expression of genes encoding proteins associated with skin blood supply and wound healing were altered. In the obese, many gene expression pathways were broadly downregulated and subdermal fat showed pronounced inflammation. There were no changes in skin microbiota or metabolites. African American subjects differed from European Americans with a trend to increased epidermal thickening. In obese African Americans, compared to obese European Americans, we observed altered gene expression that may explain known differences in water content and stress response. African Americans showed markedly lower expression of the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator characteristic of the disease cystic fibrosis. The results from this preliminary study may explain the functional changes found in the skin of obese subjects and African Americans.
Text
s41598-020-70244-2
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Accepted/In Press date: 15 July 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 August 2020
Published date: 1 December 2020
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Funding Information:
We thank the participants and clinical research staff who made this clinical study possible. We thank Pat Gil-leaudeau, FNP for assistance with the punch biopsy procedure. We thank Inna Cueto for staining and photographing the specimen slides. We thank Chandrima Bhattacharya for assistance with microbiome analysis. This research was funded in part by a research Grant from RUCCTS Grant # UL1TR001866 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program (JMW). JOA was funded in part by research grants from the Center for Diseases of the Digestive System and Sackler Center for Biomedicine and Nutrition at Rockefeller University, AHA 17-SFRN33520045 and K08-DK117064 (NIH) at NYU Langone Health. PRH was funded in part by the Sackler Center for Biomedicine and Nutrition at Rockefeller University Hospital.
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© 2020, The Author(s).
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Local EPrints ID: 443695
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/443695
ISSN: 2045-2322
PURE UUID: 004817f9-ae16-47ff-9baa-35a40219dd16
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Date deposited: 09 Sep 2020 16:30
Last modified: 12 Jul 2024 02:06
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Contributors
Author:
Jeanne M. Walker
Author:
Sandra Garcet
Author:
Jose O. Aleman
Author:
Christopher E. Mason
Author:
David Danko
Author:
Simone Zuffa
Author:
James Krueger
Author:
Jan L. Breslow
Author:
Peter R. Holt
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