Purpose: To compare in- season eotaxin- 1 levels in tears of patients suffering from seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC)- with (1) tears of normal subjects and (2) tears of SAC patients out of season. Methods: Tears of 11 SAC patients and six control volunteers were collected during the pollen season. Tears of five SAC patients showing a strong sensitivity to grass pollen (skin- prick tests and specific serum IgE)were collected both in season and out of season. ELISA measured eotaxin- 1 level. Results: Eotaxin- 1 concentration in tears of SAC patie nts [2,100± 503 (SEM) pg/mlAbstractand normal subjects (1,193± 176 pg/ml) were significantly different (P=0.0049). Regarding allergic patients, the clinical score (sum of five allergic criteria) was significantly different in season and out of season (P=0.0043) as was also the case with eo- taxin- 1 concentration (P=0.024). Conclusions: The eotaxin- 1 concentration in tears of patients showing hay fever could confirm a diagnosis of seasonal ocular allergy.
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