Abstract
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a recurrent inflammatory skin disease with a complex etiopathogenesis whose treatment poses a challenge in the clinical practice. Here, we present a novel integrated pipeline produced by the European consortium BATMAN (Biomolecular Analysis for Tailored Medicine in Acne iNversa) aimed at investigating the molecular pathways involved in HS by developing new diagnosis algorithms and building cellular models to pave the way for personalized treatments. The objectives of our european Consortium are the following: (1) identify genetic variants and alterations in biological pathways associated with HS susceptibility, severity and response to treatment; (2) design in vitro two-dimensional epithelial cell and tri-dimensional skin models to unravel the HS molecular mechanisms; and (3) produce holistic health records HHR to complement medical observations by developing a smartphone application to monitor patients remotely. Dermatologists, geneticists, immunologists, molecular cell biologists, and computer science experts constitute the BATMAN consortium. Using a highly integrated approach, the BATMAN international team will identify novel biomarkers for HS diagnosis and generate new biological and technological tools to be used by the clinical community to assess HS severity, choose the most suitable therapy and follow the outcome.