Serum levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) versus immunoglobulins (IgG., IgM., and IgE.) in Egyptian scabietic children

• Published in: Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology Vol. 25; no. 3; p. 773
• Main Authors: Morsy, T A, el Alfy, M S, Arafa, M A, Salama, M M, Habib, K S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Egypt 01-12-1995
• Subjects: Adolescent; Animals; Child; Egypt; Female; Humans; Immunoglobulin E - blood; Immunoglobulin G - blood; Immunoglobulin M - blood; Male; Mites - parasitology; Mites - physiology; Scabies - blood; Scabies - immunology; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - analysis; Egypt
• ISSN: 1110-0583

The tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha or Cachectin) is a protein produced mainly by macrophages, with a wide range of biological activities and in inflammatory process. On the other hand, scabies is a skin disease caused by Sarcoptes scabiei which is typified by severe itching (particularly at night), red papules and often secondary infection. The female mite tunnels in the skin to lay her eggs and the newly hatched mites pass easily from person to person by contact. Commonly the infested areas are the groin, penis, nipples and the skin between the fingers. In this paper, the serum levels of TNF-alpha versus IgG., IgM., and IgE. were estimated in parasitologically proven scabietic male children (8-13 years) with no secondary infection or other parasitic infection. The results showed high significant elevation of serum TNF-alpha in 94.1% (P = 7.763E-04) and IgE in 100% (P = 1.530E-07) in the scabietic patients than in the control group, and non significant increase in IgG in 47% (P = 0.0605) and in IgM in 5.9% (P = 0.9404). It was concluded that TNF-alpha plays a role in the pathogenesis of human scabies. Extensive study is ongoing to clarify the outcome of TNF-alpha in human scabies.