WEDNESDAY, March 18, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For children with atopic dermatitis (AD), dupilumab treatment restores skin barrier function, according to a study published online Jan. 26 in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Michael J. Cork, Ph.D., from Sheffield Children's National Institute for Health and Care Research Commercial Research Delivery Centre in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined the effects of 16 weeks of dupilumab treatment on skin barrier function and integrity using noninvasive methods in children aged 6 to 11 years with moderate-to-severe AD and matched healthy volunteers (23 and 18 participants, respectively). Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) before (basal) and after skin tape stripping and epidermal thickness (TE) were assessed to week 28.
The researchers found that at baseline, mean basal TEWL was significantly higher in AD lesional/nonlesional skin than in healthy skin (55.1 ± 5.5/28.0 ± 3.1 g x m−2 x h−1 versus 14.0 ± 1.6) and decreased to 30.3 ± 3.1/22.0 ± 2.6 and 29.7 ± 4.3/18.3 ± 2.1 at weeks 16 and 28, respectively; similar improvement was seen in TEWL after five of 20 skin tape stripping. Compared with healthy skin, baseline mean TE was significantly higher in lesional/nonlesional skin (251.1 ± 25.8/166.1 ± 15.2 µm versus 118.2 ± 5.1) and decreased to 196.8 ± 18.4/141.9 ± 11.9 and 160.4 ± 12.9/142.7 ± 15.6 at weeks 16 and 28, respectively. No significant differences were seen between TEWL and TE in AD lesional and nonlesional versus healthy skin at weeks 16 and 28.
"Dupilumab helps normalize the skin barrier in children, including areas of skin that appear clinically unaffected," senior author Donald Y.M. Leung, M.D., Ph.D., from National Jewish Health in Denver, said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi and Regeneron, which manufacture dupilumab and funded the study.