Influence of age and gender on serum eotaxin concentration in healthy and allergic people.
BACKGROUND
Eotaxin is one of the important chemokines that modulate allergic inflammation. In many studies a correlation between an elevated serum concentration of eotaxin, allergen exposure and allergic symptoms has been confirmed. Influence of other factors on eotaxin concentration is feebly recognized. We made an attempt to assess the influence of age and gender on the serum eotaxin level in healthy people and in patients with intermittent IgE-mediated rhinoconjunctivitis (AR).


METHODS
The serum eotaxin level was measured in 245 healthy people and 241 patients with AR before the pollen season with the ELISA technique (KITS, R&D USA, pg/ml). The parametric tests and linear regression analysis were used in statistical calculations.


RESULTS
There were no differences between the allergic group and the healthy one in the mean age (accordingly: 31.3 +/- 11.6 yrs. vs. 31.6 +/- 12.5 yrs.; p=0.1) and the mean serum eotaxin content (118.1 +/- 44.9 pg/ml vs. 116.3 +/- 34.8 pg/ml; p=0.3). A significant relationship between the serum eotaxin level, gender and age was revealed in both groups and regression models were derived. A linear correlation between age (semi-partial correlation beta = 0.47, p = 0.0000001) and gender (semi-partial correlation beta = 0.3, p = 0.0000001), on the one side, and the serum eotaxin level, on the other, was found for the allergic people. In the control group a similar relationship between the serum eotaxin level and age (semi-partial correlation coefficient beta = 0.63, p = 0.0000001) and gender (semi-partial correlation factor beta = 0.23, p = 0.000006) was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Age and sex significantly influence the serum eotaxin content in healthy people and patients with IgE-mediated rhinoconjunctivitis.
Targowski
T
T
Department of Internal Medicine, Pneumonology and Allergology, Military Institute of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland. tomasz.targowski@xl.wp.pl
Jahnz-Rózyk
K
K
Plusa
T
T
Glodzinska-Wyszogrodzka
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000097:blood*; D002631:Chemotactic Factors, Eosinophil / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006109:Poaceae / Q000276:immunology; D011058:Pollen / Q000276:immunology; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000097:blood*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014197:Trees / Q000276:immunology
C515456:CCL11 protein, human; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D019742:Chemokines, CC; D002631:Chemotactic Factors, Eosinophil