P16 CIRCULATING LEVELS OF CYTOKINES IN THE PATIENTS WITH ALOPECIA AREATA
Cho WI, Yoon YH, Ro BI
Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea

The importance of immune responses in the development of alopecia areata (AA) has been recognized. Especially T cells and its related cytokines have been suggested as possible etiologic factors of AA. In previous reports, AA was mediated predominantly by TH1 cells and in treated patients with AA suppressed TH1 type cytokines. In this study, serum levels of interleukin (IL)-16, which is thought to be mainly produced from activated CD8+ T cells, IL-10, the cytokine of TH2 response, and IFN-gamma, the cytokine of TH1 response, in AA patients were investigated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) before and after treatment.