title: Total IgE and eotaxin (CCL11) contents in tears of patients suffering from seasonal allergic conjunctivitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To prospectively investigate patients with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC) during the pollen season and test associations between tears total IgE, eotaxin concentrations, and SAC severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Enrolled patients presented ocular symptoms and clinical signs of SAC at the time of presentation. Ocular itching, hyperaemia, chemosis, eyelid swelling, and tearing were scored, and the sum of these scores was defined as the clinical score. Conjunctival papillae were separately graded. We measured eotaxin concentration in tears by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and total tear IgE by Lacrytest strip.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among thirty patients (30 eyes), 11 showed neither tear IgE nor tear eotaxin, while 15 out of 19 patients with positive IgE values presented a positive amount of eotaxin in their tears (Fisher's test: p < 0.001). The mean eotaxin concentration was 641 ± 154 (SEM) pg/ml. In patients with no amount of tear IgE, we observed a lower conjunctival papilla grade than in patients whose tears contained some amount of IgE (trend test: p = 0.032). In the 15 patients whose tear eotaxin concentration was null, tear IgE concentration was 5.3 ± 3.5 arbitrary units; in the other 15 patients whose eotaxin was positive, IgE reached 21 ± 4.3 arbitrary U (Mann-Whitney: p < 0.001). We measured 127 ± 47 pg/ml eotaxin in patients with no history of SAC but newly diagnosed as suffering from SAC, and 852 ± 218 pg/ml eotaxin in patients with a known SAC (p = 0.008). In contrast, tear IgE concentrations of both groups did not differ statistically significantly (p = 0.947).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If IgE and eotaxin secreted in tears are major contributors in SAC pathogenesis, they however act at different steps of the process.
authors.affiliation: Ocular Immunology, Jules Gonin Eye Hospital, University of Lausanne, 15, Av. de France, 1000, Lausanne 7, Switzerland, simone.eperon@fa2.ch.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eperon
authors.forename: Marouen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berguiga
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ballabeni
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guex-Crosier
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guex-Crosier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D054413:Chemokine CCL11 / Q000378:metabolism*; D003233:Conjunctivitis, Allergic / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011058:Pollen; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D013666:Tears / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C515456:CCL11 protein, human; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D005136:Eye Proteins; C042434:tear proteins; D007073:Immunoglobulin E