Measurement of IL-4 in tears of patients with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis and vernal keratoconjunctivitis

H. Fujishima, T. Takeuchi, N. Shinozaki, I. Saito, K. Tsubota

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

80 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To elucidate the mechanism of ocular surface allergic disease, we focused on IL-4, which is one of the key factors in regulating IgE production, and thus determined the concentration of IL-4 in tears. IL-4 concentration was determined in the tears of 15 patients with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, 15 vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC), 10 giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC), 10 patients with non-allergic conjunctivitis and post-cataract surgical conjunctivitis as intermediate conjunctivitis, and 10 normal subjects using a highly sensitive sandwich ELISA. The mean level of IL-4 in normal controls was low, and seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, VKC and GPC showed a significant elevation (P < 0.05), respectively. IL-4 of VKC and GPC were also significantly higher than allergic conjunctivitis, and non-allergic conjunctivitis and post-cataract surgical conjunctivitis were not higher than normal. These results raise the possibility that the increased level of IL-4 in tears could play a role in allergic disease and its severity in patients.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)395-398
Number of pages4
JournalClinical and Experimental Immunology
Volume102
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1995
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • IL-4 sandwich ELISA
  • allergic conjunctivitis
  • tears
  • vernal keratoconjunctivitis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology

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