Systemic IL-26 and IL-17A in children with allergic manifestations
Although we observed that both IL-26 and IL-17A were increased in children with dog allergen sensitization, this does not provide any information about the relative concentrations of each cytokine respective to specific allergic manifestations. To assess this, we compared systemic concentrations of both IL-26 and IL-17A in those with and without allergic asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis, or one or more documented food allergies. Children with asthma had significantly higher levels of both IL-26 and IL-17A (Fig. 2A-B ) than children in the control group. Interestingly, serum levels of IL-26 in dog allergen-sensitized children without asthma were also elevated compared with non-sensitized children (Fig. 2A , p = 0.023).
Both IL-26 and IL-17A were also increased systemically in dog allergen-sensitized subjects with eczema compared with control subjects (Fig 2C-D ). This was true for patients with both active eczema as well as those with a history of eczema but without active disease at the time of participation. Additionally, IL-26 and IL-17A were increased in dog allergen-sensitized subjects with a history of allergic rhinitis (Fig. 2E-F ) or a history of at least one previously documented food allergy (Fig. 2G-H ).