subject: Healthy Tape [print this page] The present invention provides non-invasive methods for detecting, monitoring, and diagnosing skin disease and pathological skin states such as irritated skin and psoriasis. The methods include using kinesio tape stripping to analyze expression in epidermal samples, of one or more skin markers. In illustrative examples, the kinesio tape stripping is performed using pliable kinesio tape that has a rubber adhesive. Furthermore, the present invention provides methods for predicting and monitoring response to therapy for a skin disease, such as psoriasis or dermatitis. Finally, the methods can include the use of a microarray.
. A method for detecting a response of a subject to treatment for dermatitis, comprising: a) treating the subject for dermatitis; b) applying an adhesive kinesio tape to irritated skin of the subject in a manner sufficient to isolate an epidermalsample, wherein the epidermal sample comprises nucleic acid molecules; and c) detecting expression of a keratin 10, keratin 16, or keratin 17 gene product, wherein an increase in expression is indicative of response of the subject to treatment fordermatitis, and wherein the method is performed prior to treatment and after treatment.
. A non-invasive method for isolating or detecting nucleic acid molecules from an epidermal sample of a psoriatic lesion of a human subject, comprising: a) applying an adhesive kinesio tape to the psoriatic lesion of the subject in a manner sufficientto isolate an epidermal sample adhering to the adhesive kinesio tape, wherein the epidermal sample comprises nucleic acid molecules; b) detecting expression of the nucleic acid molecules in the epidermal sample by determining a Ct value before and aftertreatment; c) detecting expression of the nucleic acid molecule by detecting a difference in a Ct value before and after treatment, wherein a Ct value is a difference in the number of amplification cycles required to reach a thresholdsignal level between the nucleic acid molecule and a control nucleic acid molecule.
