Changes in Peripheral Blood T Cells after Treatment of Cyclosporine in Children with Severe Atopic Dermatitis / 소아알레르기및호흡기학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Skin-homing T cells expressing cutaneous lymphocyte antigen (CLA) are known to be important in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD). Cyclosporine is known as an effective treatment for severe atopic dermatitis, which controls the cytokine production from T cells and regulates the activation of T cells. There have been no reports about the changes of circulating CLA+ T cells after the treatment of cyclosporine in AD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome and the changes of CLA+ T cells after treatment of cyclosporine in childhood AD. METHODS: Ten children with severe AD were treated with cyclosporine (5 mg/kg/day) for six weeks. Clinical outcome was monitored by the SCORAD index. We assayed the peripheral blood T lymphocyte subpopulation including CLA+ T cells with flow cytometry. RESULTS: The SCORAD index decreased significantly after treatment (P< 0.05). CD4+CLA+ T cells and CD3+CLA+ T cells were significantly decreased after the treatment of cyclosporine. (P< 0.05) But CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells were not changed. CONCLUSION: Cyclosporine is effective to control severe AD in children and decreases CD4+CLA+ T cells, which may be important in the pathogenesis of AD.