Assessment of the role of vitamin D and interleukin-17 in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris

Background and Design: The helper 17 (Th17) cells and interleukin-17 (IL-17) are thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris (AV). Vitamin D, involved in bone metabolism, has also been shown to decrease proinflammatory cytokines through inhibition of Th17 cells and toll-like receptor 2 expression on monocytes.. We aimed to evaluate the effect of IL-17 and vitamin D levels in the pathogenesis of AV in our study. Materials and Methods: Between October 2015 and April 2017, 80 AV patients (49 women/31 men) and 80 healthy controls (40 women/40 men) were admitted to the study. Demographic and clinical features were recorded. Blood samples were collected from all participants. IL-17, was studied by sandwich ELISA method and vitamin D was studied by the chemiluminescence method. Results: In the patient group vitamin 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] level was significantly higher than the control group (p=0.038). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups at IL-17 level (p=0.959). According to the global acne grading system, vitamin D level in the mild group was 18.5 (12.8-23.1) ng/mL while the vitamin D level in the moderate-severe group was 18.0 (11.2-23.1) ng/ mL. There was no significant relationship between the severity of AV lesions and the vitamin 25(OH)03 levels (p=0.623). IL-17 levels in the mild group was 534.7 (207.4-640.0) pg/ml, In the moderate-severe group, the level of IL-17 was found to be 368.1 (137.6-640.0) pg/mL. There was no significant relationship between the severity of AV lesions and IL-17 level in the patients either (p=0.256). Conclusion: In this study, which examined the role of vitamin D and IL-17 levels in the pathogenesis of AV disease, no significant relationship between AV disease and vitamin D and IL-17 levels was obversed.