MEASUREMENT OF IL-4 IN TEARS OF PATIENTS WITH SEASONAL ALLERGIC CONJUNCTIVITIS AND VERNAL KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS

To elucidate the mechanism of ocular surface allergic disease, we focu sed on IL-4, which is one of the key factors in regulating IgE product ion, and thus determined the concentration of IL-4 in tears. IL-4 conc entration was determined in the tears of 15 patients with seasonal all ergic conjunctivitis, 15 vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC), 10 giant p apillary conjunctivitis (GPC), 10 patients with non-allergic conjuncti vitis and post-cataract surgical conjunctivitis as intermediate conjun ctivitis, and 10 normal subjects using a highly sensitive sandwich ELI SA. The mean level of IL-4 in normal controls was low, and seasonal al lergic conjunctivitis, VKC and GPC showed a significant elevation (P < 0.05), respectively. IL-4 of VKC and GPC were also significantly high er than allergic conjunctivitis, and non-allergic conjunctivitis and p ost-cataract surgical conjunctivitis were not higher than normal. Thes e results raise the possibility that the increased level of IL-4 in te ars could play a role in allergic disease and its severity in patients .