Study of interleukin-1 beta expression in acne vulgaris and acne scars

Background: Acne vulgaris is a multifactorial disease that mostly heals by scarring. Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) is a proinflammatory cytokine, suggested to play a key role in acne pathogenesis. Objective: To study the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of IL1 beta in acne vulgaris and acne scars to evaluate its possible role in their pathogenesis and to study the relation between the expression of IL1 beta and the clinicopathological parameters. Patients and methods: This study was conducted on sixty subjects (twenty patients with acne vulgaris and twenty patients with acne scars), and twenty healthy volunteers as controls. Skin biopsies were taken from patients and controls for routine histopathological examination with hematoxylin and eosin stain and IHC staining of IL1 beta. Results: There was a statistically significant increase in expression of IL-1 beta in acne vulgaris compared with post-acne scars and controls, (p < 0.001) for both. IL-1 beta expression was significantly positively correlated with both clinical severity of acne vulgaris (p = 0.022) and severity of histopathological inflammation (p = 0.011). Conclusion: Interleukin-1 beta expression was associated with acne vulgaris and postacne scars with significant positive correlation to clinical and histopathological severity of acne vulgaris. Thus, IL-1 beta could be a key player cytokine in acne pathogenesis, its severity and development of post-acne scars.

Automated summary

This study found a significant increase in the expression of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) in acne vulgaris and acne scars, which was closely correlated with the clinical and histopathological severity of acne vulgaris. This suggests that IL-1 beta may play a key role in the pathogenesis of acne and the development of acne scars.