Clemson Researchers Identify Key Immune Mechanism in Hidradenitis Suppurativa for New Therapies

A team of researchers at Clemson University studied a skin condition called hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). This condition affects up to 4% of people globally. It causes painful skin lesions and inflammation, mainly in skin folds. The research highlights an important immune mechanism that could lead to new treatments.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It focused on the immune receptors in HS patients. The team, led by Shahid Mukhtar, included Bharat Mishra, Nilesh Kumar, and graduate student YiFei Gou. They used single-cell sequencing to find that CD2 is highly expressed in T cells and innate lymphoid cells in HS-affected skin.

Collaborating with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the researchers conducted skin culture experiments from HS patients. They discovered that blocking CD2 significantly reduced the production of cytokines and chemokines, which are involved in inflammation. Additionally, this blocking suppressed key genes linked to the disease.

This research suggests that targeting CD2 may lower the inflammatory response in HS. This finding opens a potential new path for treatments, aiming to improve patients’ quality of life.