The correlation between interleukin-10 and interferon-gamma produced by peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated by house dust mite antigen in atopic dermatitis

The production of interleukin (IL)-10 and interferon (IFN)-gamma by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated by house dust mite (HDM)antigen and concanavaln A (Con A) was measured in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). The HDM-stimulated PBMC from AD patients revealed to produce significantly higher levels of IL-10 (12 h: 918.4 +/- 206.5, 24 h: 1252.5 +/- 145.8, 72 h: 1332.7 +/- 123.9 pg/ml) than those from normal control subjects (12 h: 231.1 +/- 139.0, 24 h: 585.7 +/- 196.2, 72 h: 813.5 +/- 181.8 pg/ml). Con A-stimulated AD-PBMC also showed significantly higher levels of IL-10 production than those from normal controls, although they were lower than the productions induced by HDM antigen. By contrast, the levels of IFN-gamma from AD PBMC stimulated with HDM or Con A, were significantly lower than those from normal controls. IFN-gamm production might be down-regulated by IL-10 in AD-PBMC. The overproduction of IL-10 seems to show that helper T type 2 (Th2) cells are rather dominantly activated than Th1 cells and Th2 cells might contribute to produce the cytokines in response to HDM antigen in AD patients.