Investigation of serum il-6, il-12, il-17, il-23 levels in vitiligo patients

Vitiligo is a common skin disease that is characterized by depigmented macules that occur with the loss of melanocytes. Although the autoimmune, neural and cytotoxic theories have been suggested in the etiopathogenesis; the cause of disease is still unknown. In previous studies, there have been some correlations between vitiligo and serum interleukin levels. In our study, it was aimed to investigate IL-6, IL-12, IL-17, IL-23 levels between vitiligo patient and control groups. In this study, 30 vitiligo patients who applied Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Dermatology and 20 healthy volunteers with no known family history were included. IL-6, IL-12, IL-17, IL-23 levels were determined by ELISA method in patients and control group. There was no significant difference in serum IL-6, IL-12, IL-17 levels between vitiligo patients and healthy control group; but serum IL-23 level was found to be statistically significant higher in vitiligo patient group compared to control group (p=0,001). There was no significant relationship between anogenital involvement and surface involment age, IL-6, IL-12, IL-17, IL-23 and dermatological quality of life index (DLQI). There was no significant difference in serum IL-6, IL-12, IL-17, IL-23 levels regarding sex and age differences. Furthermore, there was not correlation between age, body surface involvement and serum interleukin levels in our study. However, no statistically significant difference could be found regarding body surface area and serum interleukin levels in the literature so far. Moreover, we did not determine a significant correlation between age, surface involvement and dermatological quality of life index (DLQI). As a result, the investigations of IL-6, IL-12, IL-17 and IL-23 levels together have not been studied in vitiligo in the literature up to date. We found that there were some correlations between vitiligo and serum interleukin levels. Key Words: Vitiligo, interleukin, IL-6, IL12, IL-17, IL-23