Testing for Cutaneous Biomarkers in Atopic Eczema in Early Life (CARE)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Using a non-invasive micro-suction biomarker extraction device to understand atopic eczema in babies
IRAS ID
347857
Contact name
Carsten Flohr
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
Eczema affects up to 20% of children, making it the most common inflammatory skin disease in children and globally has the highest disease burden among skin diseases. Almost half of the individuals affected will display the disease within the first year of life (Xu et al., 2016 JAMA Pediatr. 2017;171(2):e163909).
Insight into the chemical profiles found in the skin interstitial fluid (ISF) of healthy and diseased babies will identify signals that can be used to investigate the causes of eczema, propose new preventative strategies and effective treatments. However, currently there are no non-invasive ISF collection methods available for use in infants and young children.
In our study, we will use a non-invasive ISF extraction device which has been developed and patented by the study team and used successfully within other studies at King's College London. The device will have no medical or diagnostic clinical purpose in the project, it will only be used to extract ISF from babies' calves to compare the chemical markers present in the ISF of healthy babies and babies with eczema.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/YH/0167
Date of REC Opinion
9 Oct 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion