The relationship between plasma thrombospondin level and the clinical course of atopic dermatitis

The tests currently used to monitor atopic dermatitis in children--serum IgE level and eosinophil count--are not sensitive enough to accurately track the course of the disease. Because previous studies have shown that atopic dermatitis is an inflammatory disease and because our previous work has shown that plasma thrombospondin level correlates well with the course of other inflammatory diseases, we conducted this study to determine the relationship between plasma thrombospondin level and the severity of skin inflammation in children with atopic dermatitis. Eosinophil count, serum IgE level, and plasma thrombospondin level were measured in 48 children with atopic dermatitis at onset of flare-up, 2 weeks after treatment started, and 2 months after treatment started. The results of all three tests were better after 2 months of therapy than they had been at the initial visit, but only plasma thrombospondin level showed a statistically significant decrease, which coincided with clinical improvement. Plasma thrombospondin level seems to correlate with the clinical course of patients with atopic dermatitis better than do serum IgE level or eosinophil count.