Abstract
Apparent skin age can be determined by several clinical measurements and may differ from chronological age, hence defining age acceleration/deceleration (Age A/D). Using data from 360 women with dermatological scoring of 21 clinical signs, we defined 3 well-separated co-occurring classes capturing the dryness, the elasticity and the oily nature of the skin. We related the risk of each clinical signs to the stratum corneum levels of 5 pre-selected proteins, we identified specific chronological age-adjusted signatures of each clinical sign. Using variable selection approaches, we identified 6 (of the 21) clinical signs which were jointly predictive of chronological age and used to define the clinical skin age, and subsequently age A/D. Applying univariate and multivariate approaches we found that stratum corneum levels of insulin degrading enzyme (IDE) was protective against (β = - 1.74, p = 3.3 × 10(-6); selection proportion > 90%) accelerated skin ageing. In conclusion, our results support the fact that molecular markers found in the stratum corneum could predict skin ageing acceleration/deceleration.