(WHS-P44) SKIN BLOT EXAMINATION FOR CHANGES IN SYSTEMIC CYTOKINE PROFILES INDUCED BY INDIRECT IRRADIATION OF ULTRAVIOLET-FREE LIGHT ON ATOPIC DERMATITIS PATIENTS: AN INTERVENTIONAL PRE-POST STUDY
Friday, May 17, 2024
7:30 AM – 5:00 PM East Coast USA Time
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a skin disease characterized by dry, itchy, and inflamed skin. Ultraviolet (UV)-free light therapy could be considered as a treatment of AD when medication is not effective and UV is considered harmful to the skin. UV-free light therapy is reported to be effective even when the light is irradiated to the normal skin far from the AD-affected sites; however, the mechanisms underlying this indirect effect remain unclear. We investigated the changes that occur with improvement in AD by indirect irradiation using UV-free light, with a focus on cytokine changes. This interventional pre-post study enrolled five non-AD individuals (one male and four female, aged 21–40) and four AD patients (one male and three female, aged 21–48) after providing written informed consent. The intervention involved exposing the soles of the feet to UV-free light for 15 min three times weekly for six weeks. The Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM) was used to assess AD during intervention. We also collected systemic proteins from the inner side of the forearm using a skin blotting method, which can noninvasively capture circulating proteins through the skin, pre- and post-intervention. Cytokine levels in the collected samples were measured using a human cytokine array kit. This study was approved by the medical ethics committee of the university where the study was conducted (approval No. 2023-153-3). Of the four participants with AD, two showed improved POEM scores (from 19 to 16 and 10 to 5, respectively), whereas the other two showed either no change (3 to 2 in POEM) or deterioration (6 to 12 in POEM). The cytokine profiles in AD revealed 15 upregulated and 19 downregulated cytokines. Among them, T-helper cells regulators (such as macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-3α, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-3, and IGFBP-4) and responders (including interleukin (IL)-5, IL-12, and IL-13) underwent changes due to UV-free irradiation. In summary, our skin blot examination results revealed changes in T cell-related cytokines (MIP-3α, IGF-1, IGFBP-3, IGFBP-4, IL-5, IL-12, and IL-13) following irradiation of unaffected skin with UV-free light in AD patients.