Assessment of Calprotectin in blood and tissue of Acne Vulgaris patients of different clinical severities.

Background: Acne vulgaris is a multifactorial inflammatory skin disease of the pilosebaceous unit with complex pathogenesis. Calprotectin is a heterodimer of two calcium-binding proteins S100A8 and S100A9, which are members of the S100 protein family, and which play a role in various inflammatory processes, it is mainly present in the cytoplasm of neutrophils and expressed on the membrane of monocytes. Objective: to assess the level of Calprotectin in blood and in tissue of AV patients and compare it with healthy controls. Beside correlate it with the degrees of severity of acne in order to further understand the role of Calprotectin in the pathogenesis of AV. Subjects and Methods: This case-control study included 28 subjects who have AV, divided into four groups according to Global Acne Grading System: the first group included 7 patients with mild acne, the second group included 7 patients with moderate acne, the third group included 7 patients with severe acne, and the fourth group included 7 patients with very severe AV. In addition to a control group which included 28 apparently healthy individuals of matched age, sex and with no previous history of acne or active acne. All the patients were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Al Haud Al Marsoud hospital from September 2019 till January 2020. After taking the approval of research ethics committee (FMASU M S 22/2019) all subjects gave an informed consent to participate in this work. Results: Our study showed that the increase in AV severity was not affected by the difference in gender, type of acne, nor disease duration. However, there was a significant correlation between plasma calprotectin level and AV severity. In addition to, There was a significant statistical correlation between the increase in the age of patients and the decrease in the severity of acne, which indicates that AV is more severe in younger patients than older ones. The correlation between the Plasma Calprotectin level in patients group and Tissue Calprotectin level in inflammatory lesions (papules) was non-significant. However, the correlation between the Plasma Calprotectin level in patients’ group and Tissue Calprotectin level in non-inflammatory lesions (comedones) was highly significant. Conclusion: Plasma Calprotectin level showed significant relation with AV severity and presence of scar. The correlation between plasma Calprotectin level and tissue Calprotectin level in noninflammatory lesions (comedones) was highly significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]