Total IgE and eotaxin (CCL11) contents in tears of patients suffering from seasonal allergic conjunctivitis

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?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?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.