Azim Amira Adel Abdel, Farag Asmaa Saied, El-Maleek Hassan Doaa Abd, Abdu Safaa Mahmoud Ismail, Lashin Somaya Mohamed Abo-Elfetouh, Abdelaziz Nahla Mohamed
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Community Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Indian J Dermatol. 2015 Mar-Apr;60(2):211. doi: 10.4103/0019-5154.152565.
Uremic pruritus (UP) is a very distressing symptom and remains one of the most frustrating and potentially disabling symptoms in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Its etiopathogenesis remains unclear and complex. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of interleukin-2 (IL-2) in UP, and correlate its level with the severity of itching in ESRD patients.
This study was carried out on 60 patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD), 30 patients with UP and 30 patients without UP, and 30 apparently healthy age- and sex-matched subjects as controls. Itch intensity was scored as mild, moderate, and severe using five-dimensional itch scale. Some relevant clinical parameters (age, sex, xerosis, presence of neuropathy, duration of dialysis, complete medical history, and history of pruritic skin diseases) and laboratory findings including creatinine, urea, calcium, phosphorus, parathyroid hormone, and serum levels of IL-2 were evaluated.
In our study, we found a statistically significant difference in IL-2 level between patients and controls. However, there was no statistically significant difference in IL-2 levels between cases with pruritus and cases without pruritus. Also, there was a statistically significant relation between IL-2 level and duration of the disease.
Further studies are needed to understand the contribution of IL-2 and possibly other cytokines in the pathogenesis of this distressing symptom in ESRD.
尿毒症瘙痒（UP）是一种非常令人苦恼的症状，仍然是终末期肾病（ESRD）患者最令人沮丧且可能导致功能障碍的症状之一。其发病机制尚不清楚且复杂。本研究的目的是探讨白细胞介素 -2（IL -2）在UP中的可能作用，并将其水平与ESRD患者的瘙痒严重程度相关联。
本研究对60例维持性血液透析（HD）患者进行，其中30例有UP，30例无UP，另选30例年龄和性别匹配的健康受试者作为对照。使用五维瘙痒量表将瘙痒强度分为轻度、中度和重度。评估了一些相关临床参数（年龄、性别、皮肤干燥、神经病变的存在、透析时间、完整病史以及瘙痒性皮肤病史）以及实验室检查结果，包括肌酐、尿素、钙、磷、甲状旁腺激素和IL -2血清水平。
在我们的研究中，我们发现患者与对照组之间IL -2水平存在统计学显著差异。然而，有瘙痒病例与无瘙痒病例之间的IL -2水平无统计学显著差异。此外，IL -2水平与疾病持续时间之间存在统计学显著关系。
需要进一步研究以了解IL -2以及可能其他细胞因子在ESRD这种令人苦恼症状发病机制中的作用。
