Evaluation of serum interleukin-12 and interferon-Υ in patients with multiple warts treated with intralesional tuberculin injection

Previous studies have shown favorable results for immunotherapies in the treatment of warts. however, the exact mechanism of action of injectable antigens is still unclear. it has been proposed that injectable antigens elicit a cell-mediated hypersensitivity reaction leading to t-helper 1 (th1) activation with cytokine release. objective to evaluate the levels of th1 cytokines – interleukin-12 (il-12) and interferon-υ (ifn-υ) – in responders and nonresponders to immunotherapy using ‘protein purified derivative (ppd) tuberculin’ as antigen. patients and methods fifty-two patients were recruited into this case–control study. tuberculin test was performed and only patients with positive test results were included. in the 25 patients who completed the study, ppd tuberculin was injected intralesionally on weeks 0, 3, and 6. serum il-12 and ifn-υ were measured at weeks 0 and 9 using elisa and levels were compared with healthy controls. cytokine levels were compared in responders and nonresponders. results among the 25 patients, 14 (56%) were considered responders, whereas 11 (44%) were considered nonresponders. the pretreatment levels of il-12 and ifn-υ were higher in patients than in controls. however, there was no significant difference in their levels after treatment, nor between responders and nonresponders. conclusion serum il-12 and ifn-υ levels were higher in patients with multiple warts than in controls and were not increased after ppd tuberculin injection. it is supposed that these cytokines reached their maximum level. also, ifn-υ receptor deficiency may be the cause of treatment resistance with elevated cytokines.