ISAD Research Fellow: Erere OTROFANOWEI

December 2023

I am a medical graduate of the University of Benin in Nigeria and a fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria. As a Senior Lecturer and clinical researcher at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, I ams a very active academic teacher and scientist. I am also a consultant dermatologist and genitourinary physician with the Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

I have special interests in Atopic and Contact Dermatitis, Cutaneous oncology and Pigmentary disorders though practices general dermatology with the dearth of specialists in the country. I have authored and co-authored papers published in peer reviewed journals both locally and internationally and am a regularly invited speaker at professional and non-professional conferences and seminars.

I am a fellow /member of many national and international associations and the current Treasurer of the Nigerian Association of Dermatologists (NAD). I am also a fellow of the American Board of Aesthetic Medicine and tutors in aesthetic and procedural dermatology. I run a very busy clinical practice as an external consultant to some multinational specialist hospitals in Nigeria and have a very active Teledermatology practice.

Thanks to the ISAD Society research fellowship grant, my research is geared towards comparing the biophysical properties of lesional and non-lesional skin of African patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) in Lagos and assess disease severity with a biomarker.

Atopic dermatitis results from a complex interplay of genetic predispositions, immune dysbiosis, epidermal barrier dysfunction and environmental factors. Alterations in the skin biophysical properties are responsible for the flares and remissions of this disease which has significant impact in the quality of life of its sufferers and their caregivers. Whilst skin of AD patients in the West has been extensively studied, their African counterparts are yet to be defined with respect to exact genes and biophysical parameters which may be instrumental to disease management. Measurement of these parameters on African skin via skin pH meters, corneometers or through novel electrical impedance spectroscopy will give important information on the epidermal barrier of African AD patients living in Africa- which factors the environmental influence of the disease.

Prof CEZMI has extensive experience into epidermal barrier dysfunction using the Nevisense® tool in atopic dermatitis. Thanks to the ISAD Society, I will be working with him at the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research centre (SIAF) in Davos, Switzerland to investigate African AD skin comparing them with non-atopics in Africa.

I also plan on investigating the usefulness of chemokine C-C motif ligand 17/thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (CCL17/TARC), a chemoattractant of TH2 cells as a biomarker in AD. The combination of these two factors provides more information of AD severity than using serum TARC alone as it has been suggested that a panel of biomarkers is more suited to the heterogenous pathogenesis of AD rather than a single biomarker such as serum PSA for cancer of the prostate. An ideal biomarker should also be easy to obtain in a minimally invasive procedure (such as dried blood spots) to minimise patients’ discomfort and maximise their willingness to be sampled. The use of biomarkers in correlation with skin barrier parameters will hopefully enhance the efficacy of AD treatment by facilitating the individualization of therapy targeting the patients’ specific biological signature and by providing tools for predicting and monitoring of therapeutic response.