Increased oxidative stress in childhood atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease of unknown et iology. To examine the involvement of impaired homeostasis of oxygen/nitrog en radicals in childhood AD, we compared the levels of urinary 8-hydroxy-2' -deoxyguanosine (marker of oxidative stress), nitrite/nitrate (marker of ni tric oxide synthesis) and selenium (marker of selenium store) in 27 childre n with AD to those of 25 healthy control children. Urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deo xyguanosine was significantly higher and nitrite/nitrate levels were signif icantly lower in patients with AD than in the control. Urinary selenium lev els were similar in both groups. Our findings suggest that impaired homeost asis of oxygen/nitrogen radicals and increased oxidative stress are involve d in the pathophysiology of childhood AD, and indicate that suppression of oxidative stress might be a potentially useful strategy for the treatment o f AD. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.