Objective: There has been an increasing focus on the extent to which oxidative stress is involved in the pathophysiology of acne. The aim of this study is to investigate the existence of oxidative stress and inflammatory marker IL-8 in patients with acne vulgaris, and the role of oxidative stress as a therapeutic target in the treatment of acne vulgaris. Methods: A randomized prospective clinical trial was carried out on 56 patients of both sexes with age range of 14-35 years who attend to outpatient clinic in Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital-Kerbalaa-Iraq over a period from December 2011 to May 2012, all patients examined clinically by dermatologist and classified according to disease severity. Serum levels of glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) and interleukine-8 (IL-8) in the acne patients were measured by using ready-for-use Elisa kits, and compared to that of 28 healthy volunteers. Results: The results of the serum level analysis of MDA for the acne patients (expressed as the mean± standard deviation) was highly significant (P value ≤ 0.001) higher than that of healthy volunteers, while serum level of GSH was highly significant (P value ≤ 0.001) lower in acne patients compared to healthy volunteers; there is a significant difference (P value ≤ 0.05) found in serum levels of IL-8 between the acne patients and the healthy volunteers. Conclusions: The results obtained in this study clearly showed the existence of oxidative stress in patients with acne vulgaris, and that oxidative stress along with inflammation play a critical role in acne pathogenesis; furthermore, oxidative stress in acne patients may represents a potential therapeutic target and interference with antioxidant is a rationale choice.

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