Gamma-linolenic acid levels correlate with clinical efficacy of evening primrose oil in patients with atopic dermatitis.

Simon, Dagmar; Eng, Peter A; Borelli, Siegfried; Kägi, Roland; Zimmermann, Christian; Zahner, Catherine; Drewe, Jürgen; Hess, Lorenzo; Ferrari, Giovanni; Lautenschlager, Stephan; Wüthrich, Brunello; Schmid-Grendelmeier, Peter (2014). Gamma-linolenic acid levels correlate with clinical efficacy of evening primrose oil in patients with atopic dermatitis. Advances in therapy, 31(2), pp. 180-188. Springer 10.1007/s12325-014-0093-0

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INTRODUCTION

Atopic dermatitis (AD) has been related to a deficiency of delta-6-desaturase, an enzyme responsible for the conversion of linoleic acid to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). Evening primrose oil (EPO) contains high amounts of GLA. Therefore, this study investigated whether EPO supplementation results in an increase in plasma GLA and its metabolite dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) correlating with clinical improvement of AD, assessed by the SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index.

METHODS

The open study included 21 patients with AD. EPO (4-6 g) was administered daily for 12 weeks. Before treatment, and 4 and 12 weeks after initiation of EPO supplementation, objective SCORAD was assessed and plasma concentrations of GLA and DGLA were determined by gas chromatography.

RESULTS

A significant increase in plasma GLA and DGLA levels and a decrease in the objective SCORAD were observed 4 and 12 weeks after initiation of EPO treatment. In the per-protocol population (n = 14), a significant inverse correlation between the changes in plasma GLA levels and SCORAD was found (P = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

The clinical disease activity under EPO treatment correlates with the individual increase in plasma GLA levels. Thus, the results of this pilot study indicate that an increase in plasma GLA might be used as predictive parameter for responsiveness of AD to EPO therapy.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Dermatology, Urology, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Osteoporosis (DURN) > Clinic of Dermatology

UniBE Contributor:

Simon, Dagmar

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0741-238X

Publisher:

Springer

Language:

English

Submitter:

Monika Schenk

Date Deposited:

16 Apr 2015 16:44

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:38

Publisher DOI:

10.1007/s12325-014-0093-0

PubMed ID:

24435467

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.60530

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/60530

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