Tear IgE concentrations in allergic conjunctivitis.
OBJECTIVE
Tear IgE has been considered to play an important role in allergic conjunctivitis and the measurement of tear IgE concentrations can help to diagnose this condition. Locally produced IgE levels have been shown to be the largest contributor to the severity of allergic conjunctivitis.


METHODS
One hundred and thirteen allergic conjunctivitis patients (70 seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC), 21 perennial allergic conjunctivitis (PAC), 22 vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC)), 14 bacterial conjunctivitis (BC) patients, 13 epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) patients and 18 normal controls were recruited. Tear samples were collected using the microcapillary method and tear IgE levels were measured using an immunoenzyme assay.


RESULTS
Tear IgE concentrations showed significant increases in the VKC (322.2 +/- 45.7 ng/ml), SAC (194.7 +/- 21.7 ng/ml) and PAC (134.8 +/- 23.1 ng/ml) groups when compared with controls (52.1 +/- 9.7 ng/ml, p < 0.01). No significant difference was found between EKC (97.2 +/- 11.7 ng/ml) and BC (92.6 +/- 13.8 ng/ml) groups and controls (p = 0.1).


CONCLUSIONS
Tear IgE concentrations showed a significant increase in allergic conjunctivitis patients when compared with controls. Our results suggest that measuring tear IgE concentrations can help to diagnose allergic conjunctivitis.
Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Japan.
K
K
Nomura
E
E
Takamura
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D003233:Conjunctivitis, Allergic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D003234:Conjunctivitis, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D007637:Keratoconjunctivitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D011864:Radioimmunosorbent Test; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods; D013666:Tears / Q000276:immunology*
D015415:Biomarkers; D007073:Immunoglobulin E