Hoffmann-Sommergruber K, Ferreira E D, Ebner C, Barisani T, Korninger L, Kraft D, Scheiner O, Baumgartner I
Institute of General and Experimental Pathology, University of Vienna, Austria.
Clin Exp Allergy. 1996 Jan;26(1):79-87. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.1996.tb00059.x.
Allergic conjunctivitis is a common symptom amongst Type I (IgE-mediated) allergic diseases; and most frequently seen as rhinoconjunctivitis. However, the site of production and the significance of allergen specific IgE needs further elucidation.
We investigated whether the presence of IgE in tears of grass pollen allergic patients correlated with disease and clinical symptoms, whether the IgE binding pattern to the different grass pollen antigens was different in sera and tears, and whether IgA antibodies to grass pollen allergens were present in tears. Finally, we looked whether specific IgE was produced locally or was exudated from serum.
Sera from 44 grass pollen allergic patients suffering from either allergic rhinitis (n = 11) or allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (n = 33) and from healthy controls (n = 7) were used for the experiments. Binding of specific IgE and IgA antibodies to the different groups of grass pollen allergens (Phleum pratense) was evaluated by means of immunoblotting.
Specific IgE was detected in sera as well as in tears of allergic patients, whereby tear-derived allergen-specific IgE exerted similar specificities to the corresponding IgE from serum. The correlation between symptoms of ocular allergy and the presence of allergen-specific IgE in tears was highly significant (P < 0.0001). In contrast, only a poor correlation was found between specific and/or total IgE in sera and the manifestation of ocular allergy (P = 0.73).
Allergen-specific IgE antibodies in tears seem to be produced locally rather than exudated from serum. IgE in tears seems to be responsible for allergic conjunctivitis. IgA in tears cannot exert a protective function since the IgA antibodies recognize different antigens in a grass pollen (Phleum pratense) extract than IgE antibodies. The highly significant correlation between allergic conjunctivitis and the presence of specific tear IgE emphasizes the diagnostic value of immunoblots with tear IgE, especially in cases in which serum provides inconclusive results.
过敏性结膜炎是I型（IgE介导）过敏性疾病中的常见症状；最常见的表现为鼻结膜炎。然而，变应原特异性IgE的产生部位及其意义仍需进一步阐明。
我们研究了草花粉过敏患者泪液中IgE的存在是否与疾病及临床症状相关，血清和泪液中IgE与不同草花粉抗原的结合模式是否不同，以及泪液中是否存在针对草花粉变应原的IgA抗体。最后，我们探究了特异性IgE是在局部产生还是从血清中渗出。
选取44例患有过敏性鼻炎（n = 11）或过敏性鼻结膜炎（n = 33）的草花粉过敏患者以及7例健康对照者的血清用于实验。通过免疫印迹法评估特异性IgE和IgA抗体与不同组草花粉变应原（早熟禾）的结合情况。
在过敏性患者的血清和泪液中均检测到特异性IgE，泪液来源的变应原特异性IgE与血清中相应的IgE具有相似的特异性。眼部过敏症状与泪液中变应原特异性IgE的存在之间的相关性非常显著（P < 0.0001）。相比之下，血清中特异性和/或总IgE与眼部过敏表现之间的相关性较差（P = 0.73）。
泪液中的变应原特异性IgE抗体似乎是在局部产生而非从血清中渗出。泪液中的IgE似乎是过敏性结膜炎的病因。泪液中的IgA不能发挥保护作用，因为IgA抗体识别的草花粉（早熟禾）提取物中的抗原与IgE抗体不同。过敏性结膜炎与特异性泪液IgE的存在之间的高度显著相关性强调了泪液IgE免疫印迹的诊断价值，尤其是在血清检测结果不明确的情况下。
