Kerstin Bohnsack

Prevention of Follicular Penetration: Barrier-Enhancing Formulations against the Penetration of Pollen Allergens into Hair Follicles

The hair follicles could be a reservoir for topically applied substances. They are not only surrounded by a close network of blood capillaries, which makes them interesting for drug delivery, but they are also the host of dendritic cells, which are important for immunomodulation. Previously, pollen allergens were shown to penetrate into the hair follicles. The application of barrier-enhancing formulations might represent an effective strategy to prevent pollen protein penetration into the hair follicle. In the present study, porcine skin areas were pretreated with 4 barrier-enhancing emulsions. One skin area served as control and remained without pretreatment. Afterwards, fluorescein-isothiocyanate-labeled grass pollen proteins were applied to the porcine skin samples, and their penetration was investigated via fluorescent laser scanning microscopy. It was shown that the barrier-enhancing formulations were able to significantly reduce the penetration of exogenous proteins into the hair follicles, the extent of such reduction depending on the formulation.

Birch pollen influence the severity of atopic eczema – prospective clinical cohort pilot study and ex vivo penetration study

There is little clinical evidence for a correlation between the severity of atopic eczema (AE) and pollen exposition. To obtain more data, we performed a clinical cohort pilot study about the influence of pollen on AE between sensitized and nonsensitized subjects and an experimental study addressing the cutaneous penetration of pollen into the skin. Fifty-five patients were monitored during birch pollen season. To study the cutaneous penetration, grass pollen allergens were applied on excised skin and the uptake in CD1c-expressing dendritic cells was investigated. The correlation between environmental pollen load and severity of the Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) score and pruritus was observed, regardless of the status of sensitization. The sensitized group recovered significantly worse after the birch pollen season. Remarkably higher amounts of pollen allergens taken up by CD1c cells were detected in epidermal cells derived from skin explants with a disturbed epidermal barrier. These findings suggest an exacerbating role of pollen in AE utilizing the epidermal route.

Prevention of Cutaneous Penetration and CD1c+ Uptake of Pollen Allergens by a Barrier-Enhancing Formulation

Recent studies have shown that pollen proteins can penetrate the impaired skin barrier of atopic patients and exacerbate their disease. In the presented study the effect of a topically applied barrier-enhancing formulation was investigated for its preventive effect on the uptake of pollen allergens into CD1c+ epidermal cells. The pollen proteins were fluorescence labelled and applied on barrier-disrupted excised human skin. CD1c+ cells were selected after magnetic cell sorting and analysed using laser scanning microscopy. In untreated disrupted skin, 81% of the CD1c+ cells contained the fluorescence-labelled pollen allergens. In formulation-pretreated skin only 12% of the CD1c+ cells showed an uptake of pollen allergens. These results encourage the treatment of atopic patients with barrier-enhancing formulations to reduce the impact of pollen on air-exposed skin areas and hence the exacerbation of cutaneous symptoms.