TY - JOUR JO - Central European Journal of Immunology SN - 1426-3912 VL - 39 IS - 3 PY - 2014 ID - Gornowicz-Porowska2014 TI - Clinical immunologyCutaneous expressions of interleukin-6 and neutrophil elastase as well as levels of serum IgA antibodies to gliadin nonapeptides, tissue transglutaminase and epidermal transglutaminase: implications for both autoimmunity and autoinflammation involvement in dermatitis herpetiformis AB - Introduction: Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) seems to be a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease of partially known origin. In light of its known biological functions and its involvement in tissue pathology in other disease states, particularly in nickel-induced allergic contact dermatitis coexisting with DH, it would appear that the central and peripheral response by neutrophils and their mediators (e.g. neutrophil elastase – NE) in DH may be partially mediated by interleukin-6 (IL-6). The aim of the study was to assess the role of IL-6 in DH lesions by examining the relationships between IL-6/NE cutaneous expression and levels of serum anti-nonapeptides of gliadin (npG) IgA, anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) immunoglobulin A (IgA), anti-epidermal transglutaminase (eTG) IgA in DH. Material and methods: In total, 24 DH patients having IgA cutaneous deposition were studied. Immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded sections with quantitative digital morphometry was used to measure the intensity of IL-6 and NE cutaneous expressions. Levels of serum anti-npG IgA, anti-tTG IgA and anti-eTG IgA were evaluated with ELISA. Results : We found no statistically significant correlation between the NE and IL-6 expression intensities. Our results revealed also a lack of correlations between NE/IL-6 expressions and levels of anti-npG IgA, anti-tTG IgA, anti-eTG IgA in DH. However, the IL-6 expression level was significantly lower than that of NE. Conclusions : The lack of correlations suggested no substantial interactions between IL-6, NE, IgA/npG, IgA/tTG or IgA/eTG in DH. Presented results might indicate the heterogenetic nature of DH pathogenesis suggesting further that both autoimmune and autoinflammatory phenomena may be involved in DH cutaneous pathology. AU - Gornowicz-Porowska, Justyna AU - Bowszyc-Dmochowska, Monika AU - Seraszek-Jaros, Agnieszka AU - Kaczmarek, Elżbieta AU - Pietkiewicz, Paweł AU - Dmochowski, Marian SP - 331 EP - 337 DA - 2014 DO - 10.5114/ceji.2014.45944 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5114/ceji.2014.45944 ER -