2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Immunological and molecular biological studies of the ocular surface inflammation in severe ocular allergy
| Project/Area Number |
10671659
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Ophthalmology
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKAMURA Etsuko TOKYO WOMEN'S MEDICAL UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, 医学部, 助教授 (90197202)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2000
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| Keywords | ocular allergy / corneal epithelial damege / inflammatry cells / cytokine / chemokine / atopic keratoconjucntivitis / vernal keratoconjunctivitis / eotaxin |
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| Research Abstract |
To discover the mechanism of severe corneal damage such as erosions or ulcers in patients with severe ocular allergy, we analyzed 1) presence of cytokines in the tears, 2) correlation of chemokines and inflammatory cells in the conjunctival epithelium by brush cytology, 3) expression of cytokine mRNA using reverse-transcripts polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) in the conjunctiva, 4) presence of eotaxin and eosinophiles in the tear after ocular allergen challenge test with cedar pollen allergen.
1) We examined the presence of RANTES, IL-4 and eotaxin in the tears using ELISA.RANTES, IL-4 and eotaxin were detectable in the diluted tears of patients with severe allergic conjunctivitis, while no these cytokines presence in the tears of normal controls was observed. Eotaxin tear levels in patients with severe atopic keratoconjunctivitis(AKC) with corneal ulcer were significantly higher than those with superficial punctate keratopathy(SPK).
2) In the upper tarsal conjunctiva in patients with AKC with cornal erosion or SPK, the IL-8 concentration in the conjunctiva correlated with the number of not only neutrrophils but also eosinophils and the eotaxin concentration correlated with the number of eosinophils. However, RANTES and MCP-1 concentration did not correlate with both inflammatory cells.
3) The eotaxin expression was found in giant papilla of the upper tarsal conjunctival specimen from vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) , although it was not found in the conjunctival epithelium from AKC obtained using with brush cytology.
4) In seasonal allergic conjunctivitis patients, six cases had eosinophils and two of them had eotaxin in the tears, although all of them had symptorns ten minutes after ocular allergen challenge
These results suggest eotaxin and inflammatory cytokines are expressed in elevated levels in the conjunctival epithelia of VKC and AKC.Local inflammatory processes in the conjunctiva may play an important role in the epithelial damage of severe ocular allergy.
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