Metabonomic Methods to Assess Health of Skin

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods of assessing the health of skin. Biomarkers are used to evaluate skin samples. Using metabonomics approaches, samples taken from different skin sites or at different times during a treatment are used to diagnose skin conditions or to appraise various skin treatments for efficacy.

1 . A method to assess skin condition, the method comprising:
 extracting biomarkers from a human skin sample collected using a non-invasive sampling technique;   obtaining a spectrograph for the biomarkers;   analyzing the spectrograph using a pattern recognition technique; and   evaluating the pattern recognition technique results for patterns consistent with a skin state.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising collecting a human skin sample using a non-invasive sampling technique. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the non-invasive sampling technique is selected from the group consisting of mechanical scraping, swabbing, direct elution, pressure blotting, electric transfer, and tape-stripping. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the spectrograph is obtained by a method selected from the group consisting of high resolution NMR, mass spectrometry, capillary electrophoresis, liquid chromatography, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the spectrograph is obtained by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the skin state is selected from the group consisting of occluded, clean with regard to urine, clean with regard to bowel movement, and recently cleaned with a wipe. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pattern recognition technique is unsupervised. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the pattern recognition technique is selected from the group consisting of principal components analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and non-linear mapping. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pattern recognition technique is supervised. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the pattern recognition technique is selected from the group consisting of partial least squares discriminant analysis and molecular factor analysis. 
     
     
         11 . A method for establishing biomarker patterns consistent with a given skin state, the method comprising the steps of:
 extracting a first set of biomarkers from a human skin sample collected using a non-invasive sampling technique and having a first known skin state;   obtaining a first spectrograph for the first set of biomarkers;   analyzing the first spectrograph using a pattern recognition technique;   extracting a second set of biomarkers from a human skin sample collected using a non-invasive sampling technique and having a second known skin state;   obtaining a second spectrograph for the second set of biomarkers;   analyzing the second spectrograph using a pattern recognition technique; and   comparing the pattern recognition technique results for the first and second sets of biomarkers to identify pattern differences associated with one or more known skin states.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first skin state and the second skin state are independently selected from the group consisting of occluded, clean with regard to urine, clean with regard to bowel movement, and recently cleaned with a wipe. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 extracting a third set of biomarkers from a human skin sample having an unknown skin state collected using a non-invasive sampling technique; 
 obtaining a third spectrograph for the third set of biomarkers; 
 analyzing the third spectrograph using a pattern recognition technique; and 
 comparing the pattern recognition technique results for the first, second, and third sets of biomarkers to identify pattern differences associated with one or more known skin states. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the non-invasive sampling technique is selected from the group consisting of mechanical scraping, swabbing, direct elution, pressure blotting, electric transfer, and tape-stripping. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the spectrograph is obtained by a method selected from the group consisting of high resolution NMR, mass spectrometry, capillary electrophoresis, liquid chromatography, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the spectrograph is obtained by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the skin state is selected from the group consisting of occluded, clean with regard to urine, clean with regard to bowel movement, and recently cleaned with a wipe. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first and second skin samples are taken from a single human subject at different points in time. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first and second skin samples are taken from a single human subject at skin sites subjected to different treatments prior to collecting the first and second skin samples.