Department of Dermatology, Inselspital, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Adv Ther. 2014 Feb;31(2):180-8. doi: 10.1007/s12325-014-0093-0. Epub 2014 Jan 17.
Atopic dermatitis (AD) has been related to a deficiency of delta-6-desaturase, an enzyme responsible for the conversion of linoleic acid to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). Evening primrose oil (EPO) contains high amounts of GLA. Therefore, this study investigated whether EPO supplementation results in an increase in plasma GLA and its metabolite dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) correlating with clinical improvement of AD, assessed by the SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index.
The open study included 21 patients with AD. EPO (4-6 g) was administered daily for 12 weeks. Before treatment, and 4 and 12 weeks after initiation of EPO supplementation, objective SCORAD was assessed and plasma concentrations of GLA and DGLA were determined by gas chromatography.
A significant increase in plasma GLA and DGLA levels and a decrease in the objective SCORAD were observed 4 and 12 weeks after initiation of EPO treatment. In the per-protocol population (n = 14), a significant inverse correlation between the changes in plasma GLA levels and SCORAD was found (P = 0.008).
The clinical disease activity under EPO treatment correlates with the individual increase in plasma GLA levels. Thus, the results of this pilot study indicate that an increase in plasma GLA might be used as predictive parameter for responsiveness of AD to EPO therapy.
特应性皮炎（AD）与 delta-6-去饱和酶缺乏有关，这种酶负责将亚油酸转化为γ-亚麻酸（GLA）。月见草油（EPO）含有大量的 GLA。因此，本研究调查了 EPO 补充是否会导致血浆 GLA 及其代谢物二高-γ-亚麻酸（DGLA）增加，以及这是否与 AD 的临床改善相关，AD 的改善通过 SCORing 特应性皮炎（SCORAD）指数评估。
本开放性研究纳入了 21 例 AD 患者。EPO（4-6 g）每日口服，持续 12 周。在治疗前，以及 EPO 补充开始后 4 周和 12 周，评估客观 SCORAD，并通过气相色谱法测定血浆 GLA 和 DGLA 浓度。
EPO 治疗 4 周和 12 周后，血浆 GLA 和 DGLA 水平显著升高，客观 SCORAD 降低。在按方案人群（n=14）中，发现血浆 GLA 水平变化与 SCORAD 之间存在显著的负相关（P=0.008）。
EPO 治疗下的临床疾病活动与血浆 GLA 水平的个体增加相关。因此，这项初步研究的结果表明，血浆 GLA 的增加可能可用作 AD 对 EPO 治疗反应的预测参数。
