Serum cytokine levels in patients with chronic atopic dermatitis: A useful clinical marker for disease activity

Abstract

Objective: To measure the serum level of IL4, IL10 and IFN-gamma of Atopic patients (AD) before and after treatment with tacrolimus ointment or topical steroid by using enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) to evaluate the disease activity.
Methods: IL4, IL10 and IFN-gamma concentrations in the serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in fifty atopic dermatitis patients were giving two types of treatment and 43/50 were reanalyzed after one month of treatment with tacrolimus or topical and systemic steroids. The severity of atopic dermatitis was graded on the criteria of Hanifin and Rajika. The disease activity was assessed by each patient on a visual analogue scale(VAS). All investigations were done in laboratory of medical microbiology/medical collage of Al nahrain University.