Gene expression changes in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy skin biopsies

•Gene expression is modified in skin biopsies of CIDP patients.•Microarray analysis identified 190 differentially regulated genes in CIDP patients.•26 confirmed genes and a combination of 2 genes constitute possible markers.•Possible indirect evidence of activation of dormant MS retrovirus viral particles.

Chronic-inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is an immune-mediated disease with no known biomarkers for diagnosing the disease or assessing its prognosis. We performed transcriptional profiling microarray analysis on skin punch biopsies from 20 CIDP patients and 17 healthy controls to identify disease-associated gene expression changes. We demonstrate changes in expression of genes involved in immune and chemokine regulation, growth and repair. We also found a combination of two upregulated genes that can be proposed as a novel biomarker of the disorder.