FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 339:1788-1789 December 10, 1998 Number 24 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited Related Article by Ruzicka, T. PubMed Citation

To the Editor: Ruzicka et al. (Sept. 18, 1997, issue)¹ reported that tacrolimus (FK 506) ointment is beneficial in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. It is remarkable that an immunosuppressant agent produced a significant improvement in the symptoms of an inflammatory disease after three days of treatment. I suggest that in this disorder, which is characterized by the activation of skin mast cells and infiltrating basophils,² tacrolimus acts as an antiinflammatory agent by modulating the release of inflammatory mediators. Mast cells and basophils act as both immunoregulators and proinflammatory cells through the release of vasoactive mediators and cytokines (e.g., interleukin-4). . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Reitamo, S., Wollenberg, A., Schopf, E., Perrot, J. L., Marks, R., Ruzicka, T., Christophers, E., Kapp, A., Lahfa, M., Rubins, A., Jablonska, S., Rustin, M., for the European Tacrolimus Ointment Study Group, (2000). Safety and Efficacy of 1 Year of Tacrolimus Ointment Monotherapy in Adults With Atopic Dermatitis. Arch Dermatol 136: 999-1006 [Abstract] [Full Text]