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. 1995 Nov;102(2):395–398. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1995.tb03796.x

Measurement of IL-4 in tears of patients with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis and vernal keratoconjunctivitis.

H Fujishima 1, T Takeuchi 1, N Shinozaki 1, I Saito 1, K Tsubota 1
PMCID: PMC1553423  PMID: 7586697

Abstract

To elucidate the mechanism of ocular surface allergic disease, we focused on IL-4, which is one of the key factors in regulating IgE production, and thus determined the concentration of IL-4 in tears. IL-4 concentration was determined in the tears of 15 patients with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, 15 vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC), 10 giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC), 10 patients with non-allergic conjunctivitis and post-cataract surgical conjunctivitis as intermediate conjunctivitis, and 10 normal subjects using a highly sensitive sandwich ELISA. The mean level of IL-4 in normal controls was low, and seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, VKC and GPC showed a significant elevation (P < 0.05), respectively. IL-4 of VKC and GPC were also significantly higher than allergic conjunctivitis, and non-allergic conjunctivitis and post-cataract surgical conjunctivitis were not higher than normal. These results raise the possibility that the increased level of IL-4 in tears could play a role in allergic disease and its severity in patients.

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Selected References

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