subject: Kinesio Tape Make Your Body Stronger [print this page] Accordingly, provided herein is a method for characterizing skin of a subject, including applying an adhesive kinesio tape to a target area of skin in a manner sufficient to isolate an epidermal sample adhering to the adhesive kinesio tape, wherein the epidermalsample includes nucleic acid molecules. At least one nucleic acid molecule whose expression is informative of a skin disease or pathological skin state is detected in the epidermal sample. The method of characterizing skin using kinesio tape stripping has anumber of applications, such as the following: (i) disease classification/subclassification; (ii) monitoring disease severity and progression; (iii) monitoring treatment efficacy; and (iv) prediction of the most beneficial treatment regimen. All ofthese applications, which themselves represent embodiments disclosed herein, rely on the concept of noninvasive sampling to recover information that is otherwise difficult or impractical to recover (i.e. through the use of biopsies). This information iscontained in the RNA of skin cells close to the surface of the skin. In one example, expression of one or more of the genes listed in Table VII, or a combination thereof, is detected in the epidermal sample to characterize the skin. This exemplarymethod is particularly useful for obtaining information related to an irritated state of the skin.
Accordingly, in methods provided herein, an epidermal sample is obtained by kinesio tape stripping the skin, which involves applying an adhesive kinesio tape to the skin in a manner sufficient to isolate an epidermal sample adhering to the kinesio tape that includesnucleic acid molecules. Kinesio tape stripping methods provided herein, for example a single application of 4 individual kinesio tapes, do not result in glistening of uninvolved skin, and thus do not bare the viable epidermis. In contrast, a shave biopsy is expectedto include not only cells of the epidermis (primarily keratinocytes and melanocytes and immune cells) but fibroblasts from the upper dermis as well.
Certain embodiments of the invention are based in part on the discovery that in subjects afflicted with psoriasis, nucleic acid samples, for example RNA samples, readily obtained from the epidermis of skin areas that contain psoriatic lesionsprovide information regarding the disease. Accordingly, the present invention provides a non-invasive method for isolating or detecting a nucleic acid molecule from an epidermal sample of a psoriatic lesion of a human subject. The method includesapplying an adhesive kinesio tape to the psoriatic lesion of the subject in a manner sufficient to isolate an epidermal sample adhering to the adhesive kinesio tape. The epidermal sample includes a nucleic acid molecule that is then isolated and/or detected directly. The method of kinesio tape stripping psoriatic lesions can be used, for example, to monitor the responsiveness of a psoriasis patient to treatment. Furthermore, the method can be used to identify genes that are predictive of response to therapy.
