Background:
Despite significant progress in the diagnosis of contact dermatitis, the identification
by specific tests or biomarkers remains an unsolved issue, particularly when needed for the
confirmation of the occupational origin of the disease.
Objective:
To characterize the plasma proteome profile in occupational dermatitis in workers of paint
industry.
Methods:
The study has a case-control design, comparing exposed workers with and without occupational
contact dermatitis, matched for age, gender, occupational history, and comorbidities. An immunological
assay (Human XL Cytokine Array Kit – ARY022B, R&D Systems) was used to measure the
plasma levels of 105 cytokines and chemokines in a pooled sample of the cases and a pooled sample of
the controls.
Results:
A 1.5-fold increase was noticed for interleukin 3, interleukin 10, and leptin in cases, as compared
to controls. Fibroblast growth factor-7 and growth/differentiation factor-15 showed a 1.4-fold
increase, while interleukin 19, interleukin 31, and macrophage inflammatory protein 3a.had only a 1.3-
fold increase. The leukemia inhibitory factor was the only plasma cytokine that showed a 1.3-fold decrease.
All other cytokines had a variation of less than 1.2-fold between cases and controls.
Conclusion:
The recognition of the molecular signatures is very important for an accurate and indisputable
diagnosis of occupational contact dermatitis. In workers from the paint industry, plasma levels
of interleukins 3, 10, 13 and 19, fibroblast growth factor-7, and growth/differentiation factor-15, together
with leukemia inducible factor, may differentiate subjects with contact dermatitis from those
without skin lesions.
