The belief that chronic inflammatory disorders such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis are just immune-mediated disorders involving T-cell activation and derived proinflammatory cytokines has been challenged by Dutch researchers in a recent study. Using functional genomics this research team investigated the potential of genetic risk factors in the development and pathogenesis of these diseases by analyzing cultured keratinocytes from patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, as well as from healthy controls. Following stimulation with proinflammatory cytokines, large differences in expression levels of innate immunity genes between cells from psoriasis and atopic dermatitis patients were encountered. Further study using cluster analysis and multivariate analysis of variance allowed the identification of differentially expressed groups of ...