DermTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMTK) (“DermTech” or the “Company”), a leader in precision dermatology enabled by a non-invasive skin genomics platform, announced today the publication of “Noninvasive Genomic Characterization of Patients with Nonsclerotic and Superficially Sclerotic Chronic Cutaneous Graft-Versus-Host Disease Identified a Novel Gene Signature in Responders to Ruxolitinib Cream,” in Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
Graft versus host disease (GvHD) occurs when transplanted donor immune cells attack the recipient’s healthy cells and tissues. Dermatologic manifestations are an important aspect of GvHD, as they are often the earliest organ affected in GvHD and develop in more than half of GvHD patients. While oral ruxolitinib, a JAK1/2 inhibitor, has been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of acute and chronic GvHD (cGvHD), this is the first clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of topical ruxolitinib in cutaneous GvHD patients.
Skin samples were non-invasively collected from cutaneous GvHD patients using the DermTech Smart StickerTM and subsequently analyzed by RNA sequencing to investigate the effect of topical ruxolitinib on gene expression in cGvHD. Specifically, the study evaluated the genomic differences between treatment with ruxolitinib cream and vehicle cream and the distinction between patients who responded to treatment and those who did not.
“Noninvasive characterization and prognostication of therapeutic response are needed for GvHD therapies,” said Dr. Alina Markova, lead author and Assistant Attending of Dermatology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “This is the first study to characterize the effect of topical JAK1/2 blockade with ruxolitinib cream on cutaneous cGVHD and differentiate the genomic signatures between responders and non-responders.”
Bioinformatic analyses of Smart StickerTM collected skin samples successfully identified 210 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between topical ruxolitinib and vehicle treatments with primary pathway differences in immune modulation and cell-signaling. Additionally, 383 DEGs were identified which differentiated patients who responded to treatment from those who did not.
“We are proud to partner with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to advance research on treatment for cutaneous GvHD patients and provide clinicians with objective genomic information to help identify patients that may benefit from treatment,” said Michael Howell, PhD, chief scientific officer of DermTech. “This collaboration further demonstrates DermTech Stratum’s capabilities in offering translational medicine services to bring heightened precision and personalization to the diagnosis and treatment of dermatologic disease.”
For additional information about DermTech Stratum, visit https://dermtechstratum.com/.
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