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Interferon‐γ secreted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells as a possible diagnostic marker for allergic contact dermatitis to gold
Author(s) -
Christiansen Jenny,
Färm Gunilla,
EidForest Ruth,
Anderson Chris,
Cederbrant Karin,
Hultman Per
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
contact dermatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0536
pISSN - 0105-1873
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0536.2006.00908.x
Subject(s) - patch test , medicine , gold standard (test) , allergic contact dermatitis , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , immunology , contact dermatitis , allergy , cytokine , interferon γ , stimulation , interferon gamma , gastroenterology , in vitro , chemistry , biochemistry
10% of patch‐tested patients have a positive reaction to gold. Most lack clinical symptoms, but allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) to gold is increasing. In this study, 77 dermatological outpatients were divided into 3 groups depending on epicutaneous patch test outcomes: a group positive to gold (EPI+), a group negative to gold (EPI−), and a group with irritant reactions to gold (EPI‐IR). Lymphocytes were stimulated in vitro with gold sodium thiosulfate. Proliferation was assessed using the lymphocyte transformation test (LTT), and cytokine secretion was assessed using a multibead array (Luminex ® ; Linco Research Inc., St. Charles, MO, USA), in order to evaluate whether an in vitro method with high diagnostic accuracy could be devised. The EPI+ group showed a significantly increased secretion of interferon (IFN)‐γ, interleukin (IL)‐2, and IL‐13 and also showed a significantly higher stimulation indexes for LTT, compared to the other 2 subject groups. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for all methods individually and combined, but IFN‐γ assessment alone was the most accurate method for identifying ACD to gold, with sensitivity and specificity of 81.8% and 82.1%, respectively. This method also identified 87.5% of the EPI‐IR subjects as non‐allergic. Therefore, assessment of secretion of IFN‐γ should be a valuable complement to patch test for diagnosing gold allergy.