{"id":699,"date":"2021-03-01T01:20:11","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T09:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/?p=699"},"modified":"2021-03-01T01:20:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T09:20:11","slug":"itching-towards-a-solution-to-eczemas-problem-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/2021\/03\/01\/itching-towards-a-solution-to-eczemas-problem-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Itching Towards a Solution to Eczema&#8217;s Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For those who are living with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Atopic_dermatitis\">atopic dermatitis<\/a>, commonly known as eczema, it\u2019s not always fun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Imagine that one minute you\u2019re going on about your day, then suddenly your skin flares into an itchy, dry and blistering rash. The skin irritation becomes agonizing as soon as you start to feel your skin throb and burn, almost as if a million fire ants endlessly crawl all over your skin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/dermatology.ca\/public-patients\/skin\/eczema\/\">Canadian Dermatology Association<\/a>, this is what 17 percent of Canadians deal with throughout their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_430\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-430\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-430\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/40250884613_f58b6e8509_w-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/40250884613_f58b6e8509_w-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/40250884613_f58b6e8509_w.jpg 399w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-430\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/flickr.com\">flickr.com<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>The video below summarizes on eczema and provides further detail on its condition:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is Eczema? Causes, Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fmurdUlmaIg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fmurdUlmaIg\">Medical Centric<\/a> (Youtube)<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Recent Research<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A recent study published in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jidonline.org\/article\/S0022-202X(20)31660-2\/fulltext\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Journal of Investigative Dermatology<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> examined the relationship between an enzyme (a protein that increases metabolic reaction rates) known as Granzyme B and the symptoms associated with eczema. According to Dr. David Granville, UBC\u2019s Faculty of Medicine professor and researcher, increased Granzyme B secretion causes the enzymes to \u201ceat away\u201d cell-adhesion proteins that function in holding skin cells together. As a result, the skin barrier is weakened which increases skin sensitivity, thereby introducing symptoms like skin inflammation, dryness and itchiness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So what would happen if these enzyme levels were decreased?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Granville and his team discovered that by lowering Granzyme B secretion levels with inhibitors, skin cell layers were more likely to remain intact as fewer cell-adhesion proteins were eaten by these enzymes. Symptoms such as inflammation and lesion growth were shown to be greatly reduced compared to such increasing symptoms associated with high Granzyme B secretion levels. As these observed symptoms contribute to dryness and itchiness, these findings ultimately introduces a newer approach towards treating eczema.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>A Step Closer to Newer Treatments<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>How can these findings be implemented into future treatments for individuals who have eczema?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Former UBC postdoctoral fellow and lead author of the study Dr. Chris Turner, suggests that with further research and clinical trials, these findings can potentially introduce topical creams or lotions that can inhibit Granzyme B levels in the future, ultimately reducing symptoms of itchiness and inflammation on affected skin. This potentially brings in treatments that avoid damaging the skin such as corticosteroid creams \u2013 a common topical steroid cream applied on the skin to reduce eczema symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Corticosteroid creams are a common treatment for individuals with AD who experience more severe itching and rashes. However, these can thin the skin when used over a prolonged period of time, which can make skin more prone to damage and infection.&#8221;\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vchri.ca\/stories\/articles\/2020\/06\/08\/getting-rid-itch#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIn%20some%20inflammatory%20diseases%2C%20such,maintaining%20a%20protective%20skin%20barrier.\">VCH Research Institute<\/a>, 2020.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_433\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-433\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-433\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/Eczema_1200X500-300x125.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/Eczema_1200X500-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/Eczema_1200X500-1024x427.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/Eczema_1200X500-768x320.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/Eczema_1200X500-800x333.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/files\/2021\/01\/Eczema_1200X500.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-433\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.ubc.ca\/news\/researchers-uncover-novel-approach-for-treating-eczema\/\">med.ubc.ca<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As further research opens up more information about eczema and the enzyme that aggravates its symptoms, hopefully it\u2019ll help researchers get closer towards developing potential treatments. Perhaps one day a Granzyme B-inhibiting cream will become available in the market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After all, no one likes to have itchy, dry skin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Tina Huynh<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Reference:<br \/>\nTurner, Christopher T., et al. &#8220;Granzyme B Contributes to barrier dysfunction in oxazolone-induced skin inflammation through E-Cadherin and FLG cleavage.&#8221; <i>Journal of Investigative Dermatology<\/i>\u00a0141.1 (2021): 36-47.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For those who are living with atopic dermatitis, commonly known as eczema, it\u2019s not always fun. Imagine that one minute you\u2019re going on about your day, then suddenly your skin flares into an itchy, dry and blistering rash. The skin &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/2021\/03\/01\/itching-towards-a-solution-to-eczemas-problem-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,45],"tags":[77,76,79,126,62,78],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biological-sciences","category-science-in-the-news","tag-atopic-dermatitis","tag-eczema","tag-enzymes","tag-new-research","tag-research","tag-skincare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience20t2w212\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}