Elevated cyclic adenosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear leucocytes from children with atopic dermatitis.

We examined peripheral blood mononuclear leucocyte cyclic adenosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase (cAMP-PDE) activity in 80 children (aged 2-12 years) with atopic dermatitis. The enzyme activity (35.1 +/- 18.6 U) in children with atopic dermatitis was significantly higher than that (19.1 +/- 12.6 U) in age-matched non-atopic controls. There was no significant difference in the cAMP-PDE activity between children with mild atopic dermatitis and children with severe atopic dermatitis. These findings support the view that elevation of peripheral mononuclear leucocyte cAMP-PDE activity in patients with atopic dermatitis is a gene-associated abnormality.