Ann Dermatol.  1993 Jul;5(2):74-78. 10.5021/ad.1993.5.2.74.

Elevated Serum Levels of Neopterin in Patients with Behçet's Disease

• Yoon J
• Lee SH
• Bang D
• Lee S
• Kim JC
• Chung TH

• KMID: 2361696
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5021/ad.1993.5.2.74

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Neopterin is released from monocytes/macrophages specifically by stimulation with interferon-γ. Therefore the increase refers to the activation of T lymphocytes.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to examine the potential role of neopterin in the cell mediated immune response to Behçet's disease.
METHODS
We studied 67 patients of Behçet's disease classified by Shimizu and a control group of 30 normal healthy people. Serum neopterin was detected by radioimmunoassay technique.
RESULTS
The serum neopterin concentration of the group with Behçet's disease was significantly elevated, compared with the control group (6.36 nmol/ml vs 3.63 nmol/ml). The increase of neopterin concentration was well correlated to the clinical severity of the diseases in increasing order.
CONCLUSION
Our data suggest that the T lymphocyte derived IFN-γ which stimulates the production of neopterin has some role in the pathogenesis and clinical severity of Behçet's disease.

Keyword

Behçet's disease; Interferon-gamma; Neopterin

MeSH Terms

Humans
Interferon-gamma
Lymphocytes
Neopterin*
Radioimmunoassay
T-Lymphocytes
Interferon-gamma
Neopterin