Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Recent studies showed that antimicrobial peptides have an essential role in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris. This study aims to investigate serum catestatin levels in acne vulgaris patients and focuses on the change in serum levels after systemic isotretinoin therapy. METHODS: This prospective study includes 101 acne vulgaris patients and 28 healthy controls. Serum catestatin levels were measured and compared between acne vulgaris and control group patients. Also, serum catestatin levels were measured again at the 24th week of isotretinoin therapy. RESULTS: The serum catestatin levels in patients with acne vulgaris were statistically higher than in the control group (p < 0.001). In addition, serum catestatin levels were associated with the severity of acne vulgaris. A significant decrease in serum catestatin levels was detected after 24 weeks of systemic isotretinoin treatment. CONCLUSION: Catestatin was found to be significantly higher in the serum of patients with acne vulgaris compared to the control group. Although, the demonstration that catestatin levels decrease with isotretinoin treatment may indicate that it may have an important role in the pathogenesis of acne and could be used as a biomarker, future studies are needed to establish the role of catestatin in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris.