Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria: the Emerging Role of Coagulation

Serum prolactin level in chronic urticaria: Is bromocriptine inducing remission in chronic urticaria?

BACKGROUND

Chronic urticaria (CU) is a disturbing disease with a negative impact on quality of life. Despite of several clinical studies on CU patients, its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Prolactin (PRL) is peptide hormone has immunomodulatory effects in some immune inflammatory skin diseases.

AIM

To elucidate any possible relationship between the immunomodulatory effects of PRL and CU. Besides, the study aims to investigate the crucial role of antiprolactin drugs in the management of CU patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The serum PRL level of 40 female patients with CU was measured using the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. The activity of CU was assessed by European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology; Global Allergy and Asthma European Network; European Dermatology Forum (EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF) activity score. Patients with high PRL level had been given anti prolactin therapy to normalize their PRL levels. Then, the disease activity was reassessed in these patients.

RESULTS

The serum PRL level was high in 8 of 40 (20%) patients (43.18 ± 12.81). Half of patients with high PRL level had remission after treatment of hyperprolactinemia (p = .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Serum PRL levels could not be considered as a marker of the disease activity in CU patients.

Activation of coagulation in chronic urticaria in relation to disease severity and activity

BACKGROUND

The pathogenesis of chronic urticaria is incompletely understood. There is growing interest in the role of the coagulation cascade in chronic urticaria. We aimed to assess the possible activation of the coagulation cascade in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) in relation to disease severity and activity.

METHODS

This study was conducted on 30 patients with active CSU and 30 apparently healthy individuals as controls. Patients with acute urticaria, physical urticaria, or any form of urticaria other than spontaneous urticaria were excluded. Plasma levels of D-dimer and activated factor VII (FVIIa) were measured by ELISA at baseline for all recruited patients and controls. In addition, they were measured for CSU patients after complete disease remission.

RESULTS

Plasma levels of D-dimer and FVIIa were significantly higher among patients with active CSU than among healthy controls. D-dimer levels were lowest among patients with grade 1 severity and highest among those with grade 4 severity. Factor VIIa levels did not differ significantly according to disease severity grades. After complete disease remission, there was a significant dramatic drop in levels of D-dimer and FVIIa among patients.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that activation of the coagulation cascade occurs in CSU, and we demonstrate the novel finding that activated factor VII levels are significantly reduced after medical therapy, confirming the implication of the extrinsic pathway activation in CSU. Future controlled studies may investigate the role of anticoagulant therapy in refractory chronic urticaria.