title: Measurement of IL-4 in tears of patients with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis and vernal keratoconjunctivitis.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Opthalmology, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujishima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shinozaki
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsubota
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003231:Conjunctivitis / Q000276:immunology*; D003233:Conjunctivitis, Allergic / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013666:Tears / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015847:Interleukin-4