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Gene expression of cytokines in atopic eczema before and after ultraviolet A1 phototherapy.

Br J Dermatol. 2008 May;158(5):1117-20

Authors: Gambichler T, Kreuter A, Tomi NS, Othlinghaus N, Altmeyer P, Skrygan M

BACKGROUND: Atopic eczema (AE) is a common pruritic and chronically relapsing inflammatory skin disease in which cytokines seem to represent important factors in the pathogenesis. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate cytokine mRNA expression in the skin of patients with AE who underwent a course of ultraviolet A1 (UVA1) phototherapy. METHODS: We studied 21 patients diagnosed with extrinsic AE who were treated with a 6-week course of UVA1 phototherapy. Skin biopsies were taken from healthy controls (n=18) and patients with AE at baseline and after the last UVA1 exposure. Quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was performed for interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13 and IL-31. RESULTS: A significant reduction of the clinical scores was observed after treatment with UVA1. Except for IL-4, cytokine mRNA expression was significantly increased prior to phototherapy when compared with controls. mRNA levels of IL-4 and IL-10 before UVA1 did not significantly differ from levels observed after UVA1. However, a significant decrease of IL-5, IL-13 and IL-31 mRNA expression was observed following UVA1 treatment. IL-31 mRNA levels were even adjusted to the levels of healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that the resolution of extrinsic AE lesions following phototherapy is accompanied by significant reduction of mRNA expression of IL-5, IL-13 and IL-31, supporting current concepts that these cytokines play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of extrinsic AE and possibly represent targets for phototherapy.

PMID: 18363757 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]