A randomized, single-blind and crossover study of an amino acid-based milk formula in treating young children with atopic dermatitis.

Cow's milk and soy protein allergies are commonly associated with atopic dermatitis (AD) in young children. Amino acid (AA)-based elemental milk formula may improve AD control in these patients. This study investigates the efficacy of AA-based formula in treating young AD patients irrespective of their food allergy status.

Serum concentration of IL-18 correlates with disease extent in young children with atopic dermatitis.

Interleukin (IL)-18 is a pleiotropic cytokine that plays an important role in both type 1 (Th1) and type 2 (Th2) helper T lymphocyte-mediated immunity. Previous studies have suggested that IL-18 may be an inflammatory marker for atopic dermatitis (AD). The purpose of our study was to test whether the serum concentration of IL-18 is a useful inflammatory marker for assessing AD severity in young children.

Serum concentration of macrophage-derived chemokine may be a useful inflammatory marker for assessing severity of atopic dermatitis in infants and young children.

Chemokines are responsible for the trafficking of leukocytes to sites of inflammation. Serum chemokine levels were previously shown to be increased in adult patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). We tested whether serum concentrations of chemokines, including macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC), thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC), eotaxin (EOX), interferon gamma inducible protein 10 (IP-10) and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), are useful inflammatory markers for assessing AD severity in infants and young children.