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 ).