Roxane Pouliot

Dr. Roxane Pouliot

Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

27Years (2000-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 January 2013 in The Scientific World Journal
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Journal Article
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SDSarah Dubois Declercq
Sarah Dubois Declercq
Roxane PouliotRoxane Pouliot
Roxane Pouliot
Psoriasis is a chronic, proliferative, and inflammatory skin disease affecting 2‐3% of the population and is characterized by red plaques with white scales. Psoriasis is a disease that can affect many aspects of professional and social life. Currently, several treatments are available to help control psoriasis such as methotrexate, ciclosporin, and oral retinoids. However, the available treatments are only able to relieve the symptoms and lives of individuals. The discovery of new immunological factors and a better understanding of psoriasis have turned to the use of immunological pathways and could develop new biological drugs against specific immunological elements that cause psoriasis. Biological drugs are less toxic to the body and more effective than traditional therapies. Thus, they should improve the quality of life of patients with psoriasis. This review describes new psoriasis treatments, which are on the market or currently in clinical trials that are being used to treat moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis. In addition, this paper describes the characteristics and mechanisms in detail. In general, biological drugs are well tolerated and appear to be an effective alternative to conventional therapies. However, their effectiveness and long‐term side effects need to be further researched.

1 March 2022 in Acta Biomaterialia
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Journal Article
Open access
Mélissa SimardMélissa Simard
Mélissa Simard
Andréa TremblayAndréa Tremblay
Andréa Tremblay
Sophie MorinSophie Morin
Sophie Morin
CMCyril Martin
Cyril Martin
PJPierre Julien
Pierre Julien
Roxane PouliotRoxane Pouliot
Roxane Pouliot
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play an important role in the establishment and the maintenance of the skin barrier function. However, the impact of their derived lipid mediators remains unclear. Skin substitutes were engineered according to the self-assembly method with a culture medium supplemented with 10 μM of both α-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA). The supplementation with ALA and LA decreased testosterone absorption through a tissue-engineered reconstructed skin model, thus indicating an improved skin barrier function following supplementation. The exogenously provided fatty acids were incorporated into the phospholipid and triglyceride fractions of the skin substitutes. Indeed, the dual supplementation increased the levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (15-fold), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) (3-fold), and LA (1.5-fold) in the epidermal phospholipids while it increased the levels of ALA (>20-fold), DPA (3-fold) and LA (1.5-fold) in the epidermal triglycerides. The bioactive lipid mediator profile of the skin substitutes, including prostaglandins, hydroxy-fatty acids, N-acylethanolamines and monoacylglycerols, was next analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The lipid supplementation further modulated bioactive lipid mediator levels of the reconstructed skin substitutes, leading to a lipid mediator profile more representative of the one found in normal human skin. These findings show that an optimized supply of PUFAs via culture media is essential for the establishment of improved barrier function in vitro. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Supplementation of the culture medium with 10 μM of both α-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) improved the skin barrier function of a tissue-engineered skin model. The exogenously provided fatty acids were incorporated into the phospholipid and triglyceride fractions of the skin substitutes and further modulated bioactive lipid mediator levels, including prostaglandins, hydroxy-fatty acids, N-acylethanolamines and monoacylglycerols. These findings highlight the important role of ALA and LA in skin homeostasis and show that an optimized supply of polyunsaturated fatty acids via culture media is essential for the establishment of improved barrier function in vitro.

8 November 2017 in Mediators of Inflammation
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ILIsabelle Lorthois
Isabelle Lorthois
DADaniel Asselineau
Daniel Asselineau
NSNathalie Seyler
Nathalie Seyler
Roxane PouliotRoxane Pouliot
Roxane Pouliot
Psoriasis, a common chronic immune-mediated skin disease, is histologically characterized by a rapid keratinocyte turnover and differentiation defects. Key insights favor the idea that T cells are not the only key actors involved in the inflammatory process. Innate immune cells, more precisely neutrophils and macrophages, provide specific signals involved in the initiation and the maintenance of the pathogenesis. Current data from animal models and, to a lesser extent, three-dimensionalin vitromodels have confirmed the interest in leaning towards other immune cell types as a potential new cellular target for the treatment of the disease. Although these models do not mimic the complex phenotype nor all human features of psoriasis, their development is necessary and essential to better understand reciprocal interactions between skin cells and innate immune cells and to emphasize the crucial importance of the local lesional microenvironment. In this review, through the use ofin vivoand 3D organotypic models, we aim to shed light on the crosstalk between epithelial and immune components and to discuss the role of secreted inflammatory molecules in the development of this chronic skin disease.

30 September 2020 in Genes
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Geneviève RiouxGeneviève Rioux
Geneviève Rioux
Zainab RidhaZainab Ridha
Zainab Ridha
Mélissa SimardMélissa Simard
Mélissa Simard
FTFlorence Turgeon
Florence Turgeon
Sylvain GuerinSylvain Guerin
Sylvain Guerin
Roxane PouliotRoxane Pouliot
Roxane Pouliot
Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease with a complex etiology involving environmental and genetic factors. A better insight into related genomic alteration helps design precise therapies leading to better treatment outcome. Gene expression in psoriasis can provide relevant information about the altered expression of mRNA transcripts, thus giving new insights into the disease onset. Techniques for transcriptome analyses, such as microarray and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), are relevant tools for the discovery of new biomarkers as well as new therapeutic targets. This review summarizes the findings related to the contribution of keratinocytes in the pathogenesis of psoriasis by an in-depth review of studies that have examined psoriatic transcriptomes in the past years. It also provides valuable information on reconstructed 3D psoriatic skin models using cells isolated from psoriatic patients for transcriptomic studies.

Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
ILIsabelle Lorthois
Isabelle Lorthois
Mélissa SimardMélissa Simard
Mélissa Simard
Sophie MorinSophie Morin
Sophie Morin
Roxane PouliotRoxane Pouliot
Roxane Pouliot
Psoriasis is an autoimmune chronic dermatosis that is T cell-mediated, characterized by epidermal thickening, aberrant epidermal differentiation and inflammatory infiltrates, with a dominant Th1 and Th17 profile. Additional in vitro models are required to study the complex interactions between activated T cells and skin cells, and to develop new, more effective treatments. We have therefore sought to model this psoriatic inflammation by the generation of tissue-engineered immunocompetent tissues, and we have investigated the response of activated T-cell infiltration in models produced with lesional psoriatic skin cells on major hallmarks of psoriasis. The immunocompetent lesional skin model displayed a delayed onset of epidermal differentiation, an hyperproliferation of the basal keratinocytes, a drastic increase in the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, and a disturbed expression of key transcription factors, as observed in lesional plaques, suggesting a crucial importance of combining the pathological phenotype of cutaneous cells to T cells in order to generate a relevant model for psoriasis. Finally, we found this skin model to be responsive to methotrexate treatment, making it a valuable tool for drug development.

30 April 2022 in Cells
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Journal Article
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Sophie MorinSophie Morin
Sophie Morin
Mélissa SimardMélissa Simard
Mélissa Simard
Geneviève RiouxGeneviève Rioux
Geneviève Rioux
PJPierre Julien
Pierre Julien
Roxane PouliotRoxane Pouliot
Roxane Pouliot
Psoriasis is an autoimmune skin disease with an increased number of leukocytes infiltrating the dermal and epidermal compartments compared with normal skin. N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) are frequently used in the clinic in order to attenuate the symptoms of psoriasis. For psoriatic patients, a supplementation of the diet with alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) reduces the activation of T cell signaling pathways, leading to a significant reduction in inflammatory cytokine secretion. However, the precise mechanism of action of n-3 PUFAs in psoriasis is still not understood. In the present study, we elucidated the bioaction of ALA on the adaptive immune component of psoriasis by using a psoriatic skin model produced with the addition of activated T cells. Healthy and psoriatic skin substitutes were produced according to the self-assembly method, using culture media supplemented with 10 μM of ALA. T cells were isolated from blood samples using a negative selection isolation method. ALA supplementation regulated the hyperproliferation and abnormal cell differentiation of psoriatic keratinocytes stimulated by T cells. Additionally, the exogenous ALA was correctly incorporated into the phospholipids of keratinocytes, which resulted in increased levels of ALA, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and n-3 docosapentaenoic acid (n-3 DPA). The infiltration of T cells into the epidermis was reduced when ALA was added to the culture medium, and significant decreases in the levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as CXCL1, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were consequently measured in psoriatic substitutes supplemented with this n-3 PUFA. Altogether, our results showed that in this psoriatic skin model enriched with T cells, ALA exerted its beneficial effect by decreasing the quantities of inflammatory mediators released by T cells.