So far, tape-stripped stratum corneum has been used to collect mRNAs in a minimally invasive manner 12 however, the mRNA content thus collected is very low and highly degraded due to RNase activity on the skin surface. Although metabolites, proteins, and DNA are relatively easy to collect from the sweat and hair samples 10, 11, it is difficult to collect measurable levels of mRNAs from skin in a non- or low-invasive manner. Sweat can also be used as an indicator of internal physiological changes 8, and attempts have been made to use it for monitoring patients’ conditions for instance, the tracking of blood glucose levels by measuring glucose in sweat samples of patients with diabetes 9. For instance, the cortisol content in scalp hair correlates with long-term cumulative cortisol exposure 7. Moreover, skin forms the body surface and biomolecules can be easily collected from the sweat, hair, and stratum corneum samples, thereby making skin a useful source of samples to monitor skin and body conditions. The skin is often referred to as the window to the body’s health since the skin’s phenotypes, such as the cutaneous pathology and appearance, and its secretions reflect not only skin conditions but also the conditions inside the body 6. Particularly, the use of serum, urine, and saliva samples, which can be obtained in a non- or low-invasive manner, has been widely investigated. Several efforts have been made to establish comprehensive methods to analyze the expression of these mediators to monitor the physiological conditions of the body and explore predictive biomarkers for various diseases 2, 3, 4, 5. Intra- and inter-organ communication mediated via various hormones, growth factors, cytokines, metabolites, and miRNAs play important roles in maintaining homeostasis in the human body 1. These results indicate that the analysis of SSL-RNAs is a promising strategy to understand the pathophysiology of skin diseases. Further, we found that lipid synthesis-related genes were downregulated in the sebaceous glands of patients with atopic dermatitis. Analysis of SSL-RNAs non-invasively collected from patients with atopic dermatitis revealed increased expression of inflammation-related genes and decreased expression of terminal differentiation-related genes, consistent with the results of previous reports. The AmpliSeq transcriptome analysis was modified to measure SSL-RNA levels, and our results revealed that the SSL-RNAs predominantly comprised mRNAs derived from sebaceous glands, the epidermis, and hair follicles. We found that measurable levels of human mRNAs exist in SSLs, where the sebum protects them from degradation by RNases. Inspired by the holocrine process, in which the sebaceous glands secrete cell contents into the sebum, we focused on the possible presence of mRNAs in skin surface lipids (SSLs). Non-invasive acquisition of mRNA data from the skin can be extremely useful for understanding skin physiology and diseases.
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