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Background: Monoclonal antibodies encompass an increasingly important treatment for a variety of dermatologic conditions including hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). The high failure rate and cost of anti-tumor necrosis alpha (TNF-α) agents and emergence of biologic treatments critically warrant treatment strategies that identify treatment failures early and optimize therapy. This review’s primary objective is to understand the current literature on biologic therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) used in chronic inflammatory diseases and apply this knowledge to future dermatologic studies and treatment., Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or high-quality retrospective analyses of RCTs investigating the outcomes of biologic TDM were identified between January 1979 and January 2020 within the PubMed/MEDLINE database using keywords: "biologic," "therapeutic drug monitoring," and "randomized controlled trial," combined with common medical conditions for which biologics are prescribed: "rheumatoid arthritis," "inflammatory bowel disease," "psoriasis," "Crohn’s," "ulcerative colitis," "vasculitis," and "hidradenitis suppurativa." The methods and findings of each study were compared., Results: Three RCTs were included all examining TDM of TNF-α inhibitors in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Two studied TDM of infliximab, and one adalimumab. An additional high-quality retrospective analysis of an infliximab RCT captured in our search was also included. Two of the three RCTs (TAXIT and PAILOT) found proactive TDM superior to clinically based dosing and reactive TDM, respectively. The third RCT (TAILORX) found no significant difference between proactive and reactive TDM., Conclusion: TDM of anti-TNF-α biologics in IBD has demonstrated success through RCTs. Knowledge gained from these studies applies to dermatologic treatment. J Drugs Dermatol. 2023;22(5): doi:10.36849/JDD.6671.

Background: Chronic wounds remain a challenge for the clinician and healthcare system. It is therefore vital for additional therapies that target steps involved in wound recalcitrance. Recently, topical timolol has shown promising results for use in wound healing. Objective: The goal of this study was to assess timolol’s effectiveness in healing wounds of varying etiologies. Methods: This multi-center series took place from 2016¬–2019 at the wound healing centers at the University of Miami Health System and the Veterans Affairs Northern California Healthcare. We identified all wound patients who received treatment with topical timolol maleate 0.5% for at least 4 weeks after failing previous treatments. Timolol drops at a dose of 1 drop per cm2 of wound area were instilled with dressing changes twice a day, once a day, every other day, or continuous application. Once they began the study, they stopped all concurrent therapies aside from standard of care. Healing outcomes were classified into 3 categories: healed, defined as complete re-epithelialization of the wound and closure, improved, defined as decreasing wound size area (WSA), and worsening, defined as increasing WSA. Results: We identified 39 patients, 32 males and 7 females that had a total of 55 chronic wounds of varying etiologies. Thirty-four of the wounds had completely healed, 15 wounds improved in WSA, 4 wounds were unchanged in WSA, and 2 wounds worsened in WSA. Conclusions: In line with our previous experience, we found topical timolol to be a safe, cost-effective, and efficacious treatment for recalcitrant wounds of varying etiologies.

Rosacea is a common inflammatory skin condition that impacts a large portion of fair-skinned populations. The redness associated with rosacea can be a significant challenge. Brimonidine sulfate and oxymetazoline HCL were both recently approved by the FDA for the management of facial redness. These agents, however, are costly, and not all patients respond to the medication. Herein, we describe a clinical pearl that helps to optimize patient selection for the medications. This saves the patient and the health care system both time and money. J Drugs Dermatol. 2018;17(5):692-693.

Wounds that exhibit delayed healing have a tremendous impact on health care expenditures and place patients at serious risk for severe complications including death. The healing of a chronic wound requires the restoration of multiple factors that normally work in concert to repair the damaged skin barrier. Skin substitutes have shown great promise for use as adjunctive therapies for refractory wounds by providing cells, soluble mediators, and extracellular matrix materials needed to stimulate healing. There are a growing variety of skin substitutes available on the market with many indications, and appropriate selection can impact healing outcomes. Skin substitutes can be broadly divided into cellular and acellular devices, yet within these categories, each product has its own unique composition and mechanism for promoting healing. Here we summarize the characteristics and indications of cellular and acellular matrices commonly used in wound care with the most evidence supported by randomized control trials and prospective studies. This review aims to provide dermatologists and other wound care clinicians with a helpful guide on how to approach skin substitutes, from preparing the wound bed for application, to making the proper selection for patients' individual wounds.

J Drugs Dermatol. 2018;17(1):57-64.

Background: In its simplest definition, percutaneous absorption (PA) is the amount of substance that passes through the stratum corneum compared with the amount applied. The study of the PA of substances is relevant to the fields of dermatopharmacology and occupational medicine. The quantity and rate in which a given chemical absorbs through the skin depend on a multitude of variables. One obvious determinant of PA is the application site. This overview summarizes currently available data on the topic of regional variations in PA and possibly suggests a direction for future research efforts., Methods: Searches were performed in Medline and EMBASE. Extensive bibliographical research was performed in order to identify additional relevant data sets using Web of Science. Results were screened for inclusion of more than one anatomical site, the use of validated methods, and the use of human subjects., Results: We identified eight relevant studies, from which we present data., Conclusion: Determining regional variations in PA is a complex yet critically important task. Current data sets are scarce and inadequate for drawing complete conclusions, but the data seem to suggest increased PA in the forehead and genital skin compared with other anatomical regions. It is our hope that, with the advent of new technologies, an anatomical PA map will begin to emerge from the data. Such descriptive understanding will guide investigation into the mechanisms involved in determining anatomical site differences in PA.

The study of free radicals is particularly relevant in the context of human skin carcinogenesis and photoaging because of their ability to induce DNA mutations and damaging lipid peroxidation byproducts. Therefore, it is important to identify and evaluate agents with the ability to modulate intracellular free radicals. Significant interest exists in evaluating the chemotherapeutic and anti-oxidant properties of resveratrol (trans-3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene). Resveratrol is a phytoalexin, a naturally occurring compound derived from the skin of grapes and other plants. Resveratrol was selected for evaluation because of demonstrated chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic properties in a murine skin cancer model and other human cancer models through a variety of mechanisms. However, the intracellular anti-oxidant properties of resveratrol on free radicals in human skin cells in vitro is not well characterized. The purpose of this research is to investigate the ability of resveratrol to modulate the hydrogen peroxide-induced upregulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) free radicals in normal human skin fibroblast cells in vitro. Hydrogen peroxide is a well known generator of free radicals that occurs during endogenous and UV-induced oxidation processes in the human skin and was used to upregulate ROS in normal human skin fibroblast cells. Using a flow cytometry-based assay, the results demonstrate highly significant (P<0.001) dose-dependent reduction of intracellular hydrogen peroxide-upregulated ROS by resveratrol at 0.01%, 0.001% and 0.0001% concentrations in human skin fibroblasts in vitro.