Calprotectin can play an inflammatory role in acne vulgaris

Introduction
Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the pilosebaceous unit. Although various mechanisms have been indicated in the etiopathogenesis of acne vulgaris, the exact pathophysiology is still unknown.

Aim
To investigate the level of calprotectin in acne vulgaris and its levels relationship with disease severity.

Material and methods
A total of 66 AV patients, who were divided into 33 mild and 33 moderate–severe cases, and 30 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Disease severity was assessed using the Global Acne Score. According to this scale, patients whose Global Acne Score was 1–18 had mild acne, those with a score of 19–30 had moderate acne, those with a score of 31–38 had severe acne, and those with a score greater than 39 had very severe acne. Serum calprotectin levels of all participants were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

Results
The serum calprotectin levels in the moderate–severe AV group were significantly higher than that of the mild AV group (p < 0.001). In addition, the serum calprotectin level in the mild AV group was significantly higher than that of the healthy control group (p = 0.047). However, in the Spearman’s correlation analysis, the serum calprotectin level and GAS were not correlated in AV patients (p = 0.171, r = 0.179).

Conclusions
Serum calprotectin levels are increased in mild and moderate AV patients.