Secretory IgA epitopes in basal tears of extended-wear soft contact lens wearers and in non-lens wearers. |
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| Authors: | D J Pearce G Demirci M D Willcox |
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| Affiliation: | The Cooperative Research Centre for Eye Research and Technology, Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. dpea@cclru.unsw.edu.au |
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| Abstract: | PURPOSE: To determine secretory IgA epitopes in tears of extended-wear soft contact lens wearers and non-wearing controls. METHODS: We developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) to determine the tear concentrations of two epitopes of secretory IgA, the IgA alpha-chain and the secretory component. These epitopes were measured in basal tears of 20 individuals in 6 nights of extended wear of etafilcon A soft contact lenses and in 19 non-lens-wearing individuals. RESULTS: Levels of IgA alpha-chain immunoreactivity were significantly decreased in the lens-wearing group compared to non-lens wearers. However, the level of secretory component immunoreactivity was not significantly different between groups. IgA alpha-chain and secretory component immunoreactvity were highly correlated; however, some samples showed a marked variation between these two values. CONCLUSION: Tear concentrations of sIgA epitopes are significantly reduced in extended-wear contact lens wearers, and may contribute to the increased susceptibility to ocular infection seen in this group. |
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