Lipidomics reveals the role of glycoceramide and phosphatidylethanolamine in infantile acne.

Background: Infantile acne refers to a skin disease that usually occurs on the face from 6 weeks to 1 year old, and the etiology of infantile acne is different from that of puberty acne. The change of skin surface lipid (SSL) is an important factor in the occurrence of acne.

Objectives: Comparison of facial skin lipid changes in healthy and acne-prone infants, screening for possible groupings of substances, to explore factors associated with the development of acne in infants, such as gender and frequency of face washing.

Methods: A questionnaire was used to obtain information about the infant, facial lipids were affixed with adhesive tape, and the samples were analyzed using Ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS), with subsequent data analyzed by single-factor and multifactor analysis.

Results: It was observed that some lipids followed the trend of lipid master classes, subclasses and were significantly different. Galactosylceramides, glycosylceramides and phosphatidylethanolamine were screened as the majority of differentiating lipid species. Additionally, it was emphasized that the frequency of face washing and parent's acne was independent with the severity of acne in infant by clinical characteristics, whereas the skin type and gender can affect the severity of acne statistically.

Conclusions: Facial lipids change significantly between infantile acne and healthy infants, suggesting that qualitative and quantitative changes in lipids are strongly associated with the development of acne and may exacerbate the environment in which acne occurs.