Increased cardiovascular and atherosclerosis markers in blood of older patients with atopic dermatitis
Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 2019
He H., Li R., Choi S., Zhou L., Pavel A., Estrada Y., Krueger J., Guttman-Yassky E.
| Disease area | Application area | Sample type | Products |
|---|---|---|---|
Dermatological Diseases | Pathophysiology | Serum |  Olink Target 96 |
Abstract
Background
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is associated with increased systemic inflammation and cardiovascular risk. While previous studies showed increased inflammatory proteins in the blood of AD patients, detailed comparison among AD patients of different ages is unavailable.
Objective
To characterize the blood proteomic signature of AD patients as a function of age.
Methods
We used the OLINK high-throughput proteomic assay to measure serum inflammatory and cardiovascular risk proteins in 71 moderate-to-severe AD patients from three agegroups (18-40 [n=26], 41-60 [n=24], >60 [n=21]), compared to 37 age-matched controls. Total and allergen-specific serum IgEs were also measured.
Results
When we compared AD patients from three different age-groups with their respective controls, we identified a total of 172 differentially expressed proteins. Th2 chemokines (CCL13, CCL17) were consistently elevated in AD patients across all ages (P<0.05), while Th1 (CXCL10) and Th17 (KYNU, CCL20) markers incrementally increased with age in both AD and healthy subjects. Elderly AD patients (age>60) exhibited striking upregulation of key pro-inflammatory proteins, including markers of atherosclerosis (CCL4, CCL7, SORT1), cardiovascular risk (GDF15, MPO, ST2), cell adhesion (CDH3), and apoptosis (FAS; all P<0.05), compared to younger AD patients and agematched controls. We also found that total and allergen-specific serum IgEs declined significantly with age in AD patients (P<0.05).
Conclusion
Elderly AD patients had increased levels of systemic inflammatory markers, including those associated with cardiovascular and atherosclerosis risk, which may explain their increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. This suggests that older AD patients may benefit from cardiovascular disease screening and prevention.