Sex Hormones in Allergic Conjunctivitis: Altered Levels of Circulating Androgens and Estrogens in Children and Adolescents with Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis

Purpose. vernal keratoconjunctivitis (vkc) is a chronic allergic disease mainly affecting boys in prepubertal age and usually recovering after puberty. to evaluate a possible role of sex hormones in vkc,serum levels of sex hormones in children and adolescents with vkc were assessed. methods. 12 prepubertal and 7 early pubertal boys with active vkc and 6 male patients with vkc in remission phase at late pubertal age and 48 healthy age and sex-matched subjects were included. serum concentration of estrone,17 beta-estradiol,dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate,total testosterone and free testosterone,dihydrotestosterone (dht),cortisol,delta-4-androstenedione,follicle-stimulating hormone,luteinizing hormone,and sex-hormones binding globuline (shbg) were evaluated. results. serum levels of estrone were significantly increased in all groups of patients with vkc when compared to healthy controls (p<0.001). prepubertal and early pubertal vkc showed a significant decrease in dht (p=0.007 and p=0.028,resp.) and shbg (p=0.01 and p=0.002,resp.) when compared to controls and serum levels of shbg were increased in late pubertal vkc in remission phase (p=0.007). conclusions and relevance. vkc patients have different circulating sex hormone levels in different phases of the disease and when compared to nonallergic subjects. these findings suggest a role played by sex hormones in the pathogenesis and/or activity of vkc. © 2015 marta sacchetti et al.