Serum Levels of Interleukin-2 and Interleukin-2 Soluble Receptor in Patients with Vitiligo

Background: Vitiligo is a common skin disorder characterized by macular depigmentation of the skin. Although the etiopathogenesis of the disease is still unclear, several studies have shown that within the cascade of pathogenesis of vitiligo, cytokines play an important role.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to evaluate serum concentrations of interleukin- IL-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-2 soluble receptor (IL-2 sR) in patients with vitiligo and healthy subjects and also to asses a possible association between these cytokines and duration of the disease.

Study Design: Case control study.

Place of the Study: The study was carried out in University Clinical Center Sarajevo, Department of Dermatology and Venereology.

Patients and Methods: Twenty one patients (11 female and 10 male; age range 15-53 years) with vitiligo and 20 healthy controls (10 female and 10 male; age range 17-52) were enrolled in the study. c The duration of vitiligo ranged from 2 to 252 months. Ten patients (47.62%) had generalized, and eleven patients (52.38%) had localized vitiligo Serum concentrations of cytokines were measured using enzyme-linked immunoassay techniques.

Results: Both IL-2 (median 22.600 pg/ml, range 20.900-76.100) and IL-2sR (median 76.100 pg/ml, range 15.700-183.800) in the patient group were significantly higher when compared with that of the normal controls. When the serum cytokine level in vitiligo group were compared to total disease duration (Spearman correlation ρ), serum IL-2 was negatively (ρ= -0.000573, P= 0.9980) and IL-2 sR was positively (ρ=0.241, P= 0.2797) correlated with total disease duration, but it is of borderline significance.

Conclusions: Our results showed hight serum levels of IL-2 and IL2 sR among vitiligo patients which may highligth a functional role of these cytokines in the pathogenesis of this disease.