Keratin 6A (KRT6A), a protein your skin naturally makes, actually makes inflammation worse in conditions like rosacea and psoriasis. When researchers reduced KRT6A in inflamed skin, inflammation improved; when they increased it, inflammation got worse. The protein works by triggering a specific inflammatory pathway (JAK1-STAT3) that ramps up irritation.

Researchers tested KRT6A in both mouse models of rosacea and psoriasis, and in human skin cells grown in labs. They compared what happened when they removed KRT6A versus when they added more of it, then traced the exact molecular mechanism driving the inflammation.

Funding not disclosed in abstract