title: Increased concentration of beta-endorphin in the sera of patients with severe atopic dermatitis.
abstract: Serum beta-endorphin was measured by radioimmunoassay in 25 patients with atopic dermatitis and 100 healthy subjects. The neuropeptide was found to be markedly (p < 0.001) increased in patients with atopic dermatitis (9.2 +/- 3.4 pg/ml) as compared to normal controls (6.1 +/- 1.5 pg/ml). A correlation between increased serum beta-endorphin concentration and some clinical parameters of the disease has been found. The statistically significant elevation of beta-endorphin was found in patients with widespread atopic dermatitis lesions involving more than 20% of the skin surface (11.1 +/- 3.6 pg/ml), a high disease severity score (10.7 +/- 3.7 pg/ml), and previous bronchial asthma symptoms (11.6 +/- 3.1 pg/ml). A possible explanation of increased beta-endorphin is either its generation in atopic dermatitis lesions by inflammatory cells or activation of pituitary-adrenal axis by psychoneural factors in the mechanism of chronic stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Warsaw School of Medicine, Poland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Glinski
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brodecka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glinska-Ferenz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kowalski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood; D001830:Body Surface Area; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology; D001615:beta-Endorphin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001615:beta-Endorphin