DermTech, Inc., has announced the publication of two clinical study abstracts at the 2018 International Investigational Dermatology meeting in Orlando, Fl. A real world clinical utility study, “Real-world experience and clinical utility of a non-invasive gene expression test for primary cutaneous melanoma and validation against high risk driver mutations in BRAF, NRAS and the TERT promoter," demonstrated that combining gene expression and mutation analyses enhances the ability to non-invasively detect early melanoma.

The second clinical study “Non-invasive tape sampling reveals a type I interferon RNA signature in cutaneous lupus erythematosus that distinguishes affected from unaffected and healthy volunteer skin,” was conducted at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Type I interferon genes (IFN-I) are upregulated in skin lesions and blood from patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). This study assessed the feasibility of an adhesive tape device to collect RNA from affected and unaffected skin and its potential to detect gene expression differences between groups. The non-invasive technique demonstrated promise for the diagnosis, stratification and follow up of patients with CLE.

“Both studies demonstrate the potential of our adhesive patch skin sample collection platform to assess gene expression and mutations non-invasively in skin cancer as well as in inflammatory skin conditions,” said Dr. Burkhard Jansen, DermTech’s CMO.