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Serum IL‐21 level in patients with pemphigus: Before and after treatment
Author(s) -
Morsy Hanan,
Zedan Hatem,
Kassim Marwa,
Mwafey Ibrahim M.,
Negm Dalia
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
dermatologic therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1529-8019
pISSN - 1396-0296
DOI - 10.1111/dth.14482
Subject(s) - medicine , pemphigus , presentation (obstetrics) , gastroenterology , severity of illness , pemphigus vulgaris , dermatology , surgery
Interleukin‐21 (IL‐21) is believed to play a pathogenic role in the development of pemphigus. Our aim was to assess serum IL‐21 levels in pemphigus patients before and after treatment. Twenty patients with pemphigus (pemphigus group) and 10 healthy controls (control group) were enrolled. Patients were assessed clinically using the Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) at presentation and 2 months after treatment. Serum samples were collected to measure serum IL‐21 levels by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), at presentation and after 2 months of treatment. The mean age of the participants was 41.9 ± 13.5 years (7 men and 13 women). The PDAI score at presentation was 37.35 ± 14.206, which decreased significantly after treatment to 11.70 ± 6.729 ( P ‐value <.001). On the other hand, serum IL‐21 levels increased after treatment (589.03 ± 131.86 ng/L at first presentation vs 627.10 ± 304.05 ng/L after treatment: P ‐value .444). No significant correlation was found between the PDAI severity scores and serum IL‐21 levels at the first presentation or 2 months after treatment.