Table 1. Characterization of patients used to generate mast cell transcriptomes, therapy, and distal esophageal biopsies.

Age, race, sex, atopic status, and therapy are derived from self-reported questionnaires and medical histories. Patients with any history of asthma, allergic rhinitis, or eczema were considered atopic. Average counts per HPF (400×) are based upon the maximum count noted for eosinophils and mast cells per patient esophageal sample. P-values were determined with the Student’s T-test. +compared between Normal and EE.

Table 1. Patient Characterization	Normal (n=10)	CE (n=6)	EE (n=13)	p-value
Age at collection (Y):	6.7 ±1.2	10.8 ± 1.9	14.6 ± 3.4	N.S.
Age Range:	1.5 to 12.9	4.6 to 17.8	1.8 to 45.2	-
Race:	Caucasian: 7 Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1 Other: 2	Caucasian: 5 Other: 1	Caucasian: 12 Other: 1	N.S.
Sex:	Female: 2 Male: 8	Female: 3 Male: 3	Female: 3 Male: 10	N.S.
History of atopy (%):	5/10 (50%)	1/6 (17%)	10/13 (77%)	N.S.
Treatments one month prior to esophageal biopsy:
Systemic steroids:	0	0	0	N.S.
Swallowed steroids:	0	0	0	N.S.
Inhaled steroids:	4	0	4	N.S.
Leukotriene inhibitors:	0	1	3	N.S.
Acid suppressive therapy:	4	0	6	N.S.
Elimination diet:	0	0	3	N.S.
Elemental diet:	0	0	0	N.S.
Average eosinophil count per HPF:	0	5.0 ± 2.0	84.7 ± 19.8	<0.01
Range of eosinophil counts per HPF:	0	0 to 12	25 to 248	-
Average total mast cell count per HPF (Tryptase):	0.5 ± 0.3	1.8 ± 0.7	6.9 ± 1.4	<0.01
Range of total mast cell counts per HPF (Tryptase):	0 to 3	0 to 4	0 to 17	-
Average degranulated mast cell count per HPF (Tryptase):	0.2 ± 0.2	0.8 ± 0.5	3.9 ± 0.9	<0.01
Range of degranulated mast cell counts per HPF (Tryptase):	0 to 2	0 to 3	0 to 13	-