Abstract:

Objective To investigate the plasma levels of regulated upon activation normal T cell expressed and secreted （RANTES）, eotaxin, tumor necrosis factor （TNF）-α and leukotriene B4 （LTB4） in patients with chronic urticaria and their roles in the pathogenesis of chronic urticaria. Methods Forty-one patients with chronic urticaria were included into this study along with 20 normal human controls. Patients were graded into three groups, i.e. mild group （n = 11）, moderate group （n = 21） and severe group （n = 9）, according to their symptom score. All patients were treated with mizolastine 10 mg per day for 4 weeks. ELISA was used to study the plasma levels of RANTES, eotaxin, TNF-α and LTB4 in normal controls and patients before and after treatment. Results The plasma levels of RANTES, eotaxin, TNF-α and LTB4 were （52.5 ± 10.2） g/L, （58.4 ± 16.1） g/L, （35.1 ± 9.6） ng/L and （109.4 ± 21.7） ng/L, respectively, in untreated patients with chronic urticaria, compared to （33.7 ± 9.4） g/L, （48.3 ± 13.6） g/L, （21.3 ± 8.9） ng/L and （77.8 ± 11.6） ng/L, respectively, in normal controls（P < 0.01, 0.05, 0.01, 0.01, respectively）. Increased plasma levels of RANTES, eotaxin, TNF-α and LTB4 were observed in patients with moderate or severe chronic urticaria compared with those with mild chronic urticaria （both P < 0.05）, whereas there was no significant difference between patients with severe and mild chronic urticaria （P < 0.05）. After treatment with mizolastine the plasma levels of RANTES, eotaxin, TNF-α and LTB4 were （36.3 ± 8.9） g/L, （46.3 ± 10.2） g/L, （23.2 ± 7.5） ng/L and （83.1 ± 14.2） ng/L respectively, significantly lower than those in patients before treatment （all P < 0.01）, but showed no difference from those in normal controls （all P > 0.05）. Conclusions The plasma levels of RANTES, eotaxin, TNF-α and LTB4 are elevated in patients with chronic urticaria, and they exhibits a positive correlation tendency with disease activity. After treatment with mizolastine, a significant decrease is observed in the plasma levels of RANTES, eotaxin, TNF-α and LTB4, which hints that RANTES, eotaxin, TNF-α and LTB4 may play a certain role in the pathogenesis of chronic urticaria.