Value of Interleukins 4, 10, 12, 18 and Interferon Gamma in Acute Versus Chronic Atopic Dermatitis

Background. atopic dermatitis (ad) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with 2 phases, acute and chronic. no therapeutic attempts has yet been tried to target these phases rather than treatment according to severity grade. animal and in vitro studies pointed to interleukin (il)-18 as key player in the pathogenesis of ad and the switch between its two phases. objective. to evaluate serum il-18 among other t helper (th) cytokines (il-4, il-10, il-12, and interferon (ifn)-υ) in acute and chronic ad. patients and methods. thirty ad patients classified into acute and chronic groups, in addition to 20 control subjects were included. serum il-4, il-10, il-12, il-18, ifn-ã and serum ige were estimated by elisa and the results were interpreted. results. il-12, il-18 and ifn-υ levels were 2 - 4 folds more in chronic compared to acute ad patients, whereas other studied th2 cytokines, il4 and il10, were significantly higher in acute compared to chronic ad patients. il-18 correlated positively with disease severity. conclusion. il-12 and il-18 has a pivotal role in acute and chronic ad. il-18 measurement is a valuable tool for assessment of disease severity.