IL-31 Expression Increased in Serum, Skin of Patients With Prurigo Nodularis

Interleukin-31 (IL-31) expression appears to play a role in the pathogenesis of prurigo nodularis, according to a study published in Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease.

Researchers from Khon Kaen University in Thailand investigated the expression of IL-31 in serum and skin biopsy specimens of 43 patients with prurigo nodularis and 31 healthy participants.

“Recent studies have shown that IL-31 plays a role in chronic pruritic inflammatory skin diseases including atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and prurigo nodularis,” they explained. “However, no studies have examined serum IL-31 in prurigo nodularis patients.”

According to the study, mean serum IL-31 levels were significantly higher in patients with prurigo nodularis (52.9 ± 18.2) compared with healthy subjects (36.3 ± 10.7 pg/ml). Epidermal and dermal prurigo nodularis lesions also exhibited notably enhanced IL-31 expression compared with the skin of healthy participants.

When researchers compared serum or lesional skin expression of IL-31 solely among patients with prurigo nodularis, however, they found no correlation with disease severity or itch intensity.

“This might be due to the limited sample size, which may have led to non-normally distributed disease severity and itch intensity in the prurigo nodularis group,” they wrote. “It may also have been due to the subjective assessment of itch intensity. A large clinical trial should be conducted to investigate further.”

Reference:
Chaowattanapanit S, Wongjirattikarn R, Chaisuriya N, et al. Increased IL-31 expression in serum and tissue protein in prurigo nodularis. Ther Adv Chronic Dis. 2022;13:20406223221112561. doi:10.1177/20406223221112561