Serum Levels of Soluble CD30 in Childrens with Atopic Dermatitis

Kim, Seung Jun; Lee, Eun Ho; Shim, Jung Yeon; Jung, Hye Lim; Park, Moon Soo; Keum, Dong Hyuk

Abstract

PURPOSE
The pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis is not clearly defined yet, but the pathogenetic role of Th2 cells has been supposed. CD30 is a membrane-bound glycoprotein that may be expressed on activated T cells with a sustained expression in Th2 cells and can be released as a soluble form(sCD30). This study was done to document the changes of serum sCD30 and it's clinical significance in atopic dermatitis.
METHODS
We analyzed serum sCD30, serum soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R), total serum IgE and total eosinophil counts from 18 children with atopic dermatitis(AD), 15 atopic asthmatics without AD (AA), 15 atopic asthmatics with AD(AD+AA), and 14 healthy non atopics(control). We investigated the correlation of serum sCD30 levels with disease severity assessed by clinical scoring(SCORAD index) in the group of AD and AD+AA.
RESULTS
The serum levels of sCD30 were significantly higher in the group of AD and AD+AA than the group of AA and control. There were no differences in serum sCD30 levels between the group of AA and control and between the group of AD and AD+AA. The serum sIL-2R levels showed no significant differences among the four groups. There was significant positive correlation between serum sCD30 and serum sIL-2R levels(P<0.05). Both serum sCD30 and serum sIL-2R levels showed no correlation with total serum IgE, total eosinophil counts, and disease severity, respectively.
CONCLUSION
Serum sCD30 is elevated only in atopic dermatitis irrespective of presence of asthma. The results suggest that Th2 immune responses may involved the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis and sCD30 may be the possible marker of atopic dermatitis.