부산대학교 도서관

Background : Excess cathelicidin, an antimicrobial peptide, has beensuggested to play important role in the pathophysiology of rosacea.Recently, the presence of vitamin D response element was revealed inpromoter area of cathelicidin.Objective :The aims of this study are to compare the serum cathelicidinlevel and serum vitamin D level, and to compare cathelicidin and vitamindD receptor expression in the lesional tissue of rosacea patients.Methods : Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured by the competitiveprotein binding assay. Serum cathelicidin level was measured by theenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expressions of the cathelicidinand vitamin D receptor in the lesional tissue were measured by theimmunohistochemical staning.Results : The mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of rosaceapatients was 30.03 nmol/L, lower than healthy Korean average (48.7nmol/L, The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV2008). The mean serum cathlicidin of rosacea patients was 85 ng/ml,higher than the control group (55 ng/ml). When compared withimmunostaining-intensity-distribution index, the cathelicidin expression inrosacea tissue was significantly higher than control group (5.21 versus4.03). In the expression of the vitamin D receptor, there was no significantdifference in immunohistochemical staining results.Conclusion :The result of higher cathelicidin expression in the lesions ofrosacea patients is consistent with previous reports, and supports thatabnormal inflammatory response of the innate immune system is importantin the pathogenesis of rosacea. In contrast to our expectation, serumvitamin D level was lower in rosacea patients, even though their serumcathelicidin level was higher than the control group. These resultsdemonstrate the possibility of another pathway of increasing serum andtissue cathelicidin levels in the rosacea patients, besides the vitamin Dresponse element pathway.