Abstract
Atopic eczema (AE) is an inflammatory skin disease with involvement of
genetic, immunological, and environmental factors. One hallmark of AE is
a skin barrier disruption on multiple, highly interconnected levels:
filaggrin mutations, increased skin pH, and a microbiome dysbiosis
towards Staphylococcus aureus overgrowth are observed in addition to an
abnormal type 2 immune response. Extrinsic factors seem to play a major
role in the development of AE. As AE is a first step in the atopic
march, its prevention and appropriate treatment is essential. Although
standard therapy remains topical treatment, powerful systemic treatment
options emerged in the last years. However, thorough endotyping of the
individual patients is still required for ideal precision medicine
approaches in the future. Therefore, novel microbial and immunological
biomarkers were described recently for the prediction of disease
development and treatment response. This review summarizes the current
state of the art in AE research.