Effect of dihydrotestosterone on the upregulation of inflammatory cytokines in cultured sebocytes

Acne is a complex, chronic and common skin disorder of pilosebaceous units. Hyperkeratinization of keratinocytes, increased sebum excretion from sebocytes via androgen stimulation and inflammatory cytokines are the major factors involved in the pathophysiology of acne. In addition, it is known that keratinocytes play an important role in acne synthesizing a number of inflammatory cytokines. However, the nature of the association between inflammatory cytokines and sebocytes in acne remains unclear. Culture of sebocytes provides a new insight into the participation of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the production of inflammatory cytokines in acne. To examine the possible involvement of DHT in the production of inflammatory cytokines in the cultured sebocytes, we used immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR to compare the expression of interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Upregulation of IL-6 and TNF-α in immunohistochemistry, and increase in RNA amplification for IL-6 and TNF-α were observed after addition of DHT compared with the control. This study suggests that DHT may not only be involved in sebum production but also in production of proinflammatory cytokines in acne.