ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2020 April;155(2):168-72

DOI: 10.23736/S0392-0488.17.05707-8

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Expression of miRNA 155, FOXP3 and ROR gamma, in children with moderate and severe atopic dermatitis

Massimiliano BERGALLO ^{1, 2}, Martina ACCORINTI ¹, Ilaria GALLIANO ^{1, 2}, Paola COPPO ¹, Paola MONTANARI ^{1, 2}, Pietro QUAGLINO ³, Francesco SAVINO ¹ ✉

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Turin, Italy; ² Dipartimento delle Scienze di Sanità Pubblica e Pediatriche, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; ³ Section of Dermatology, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis is a disease characterized by a chronic inflammatory process in the skin, but its link to miRNA 155 is less known. The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of microRNA155, and T helper type 17 cells and Treg cells in children with atopic dermatitis.
METHODS: The study population consisted of: children seen for atopic dermatitis at the outpatient ambulatory of Dermatology at the Children Hospital Regina Margherita, Torino, Italy (N.=23); healthy control subjects (N.=23). Blood samples were taken during routine control analysis and the expression of miRNA 155 and the production of FOXP3 and RORγ was determined using PCR real time.
RESULTS: The analysis of miR-155 shows that the over-expression of miR-155 is statistically significant (P=0.0040) in the group of patients with atopic dermatitis compared to the healthy control group. Analysis of mRNAs of FOXP3 and RORγ shows a FOXP3 mRNA expression statistically higher in the group of patients (P=0.0057). The Th17 / Treg ratio is significantly smaller in patients with atopic dermatitis (P=0.0012). Also the ratio miR-155/Th17/Treg is larger in the group of patients with atopic dermatitis (P=0.0002).
CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that increased miR-155 and FOXP3 and RORγ responses may provide a link to immune dysregulation associated with atopic dermatitis. Although a point-by-point correlation between miR-155 and the ratio Th17/Treg is not demonstrated, our findings shows that these two elements do not appear to be completely unrelated to each other.

KEY WORDS: Dermatitis, atopic; FOXP3 protein, human; MIRN155 microRNA, human; Child