INTERFERON-GAMMA IN THE TREATMENT OF ATOPIC-DERMATITIS - INFLUENCE ONT-CELL ACTIVATION

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic relapsing skin disease characteriz ed by various immunologic abnormalities. Its pathogenesis remains obsc ure and its treatment difficult. We have studied the efficacy of syste mic recombinant human interferon-gamma (rhIFN-gamma) treatment (0.05 m g/m(2) sc on 3 consecutive days, during 4 weeks) in 10 patients with s evere AD. Marked clinical improvement was observed starting from the t hird week of treatment. Erythema, dryness, and Lichenification were th e most responsive symptoms. Serum immunoglobulin E and IgG4 levels did not change during treatment. Blood eosinophil count decreased only tr ansiently at the end of the first and second series of injections (day s 4 and 11; P=0.02). Patients with AD showed an increase in CD25-posit ive cells (11.0% vs 4.88%; P=0.0001) as compared to 10 age-matched hea lthy controls. Moreover, in parallel with clinical improvement, a dist inct decrease in CD25-positive lymphocytes was observed on days 32 and 50 (P=0.002 and P=0.006, respectively). We suggest that in AD the ben eficial effect of rhIFN-gamma might be related to the inhibition of ex cessive T-cell activation, perhaps of the subpopulations, producing in terleukin (IL)-4 and IL-5.