1. Efficacy of Tear Eosinophil Cationic Protein Level Measurement Using Filter Paper for Diagnosing Allergic Conjunctival Disorders
- Author
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Masahide Kawamura, Mitsuru Sawa, Noriko Inada, Hiroshi Kato, Tetsuya Ono, Jun Shoji, and Minoru Kitazawa
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Paper ,Allergy ,Adolescent ,Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ,Specimen Handling ,Ribonucleases ,medicine ,Humans ,Eosinophilia ,Eye Proteins ,Keratoconjunctivitis ,Conjunctivitis, Allergic ,Eosinophil cationic protein ,business.industry ,Blood Proteins ,General Medicine ,Eosinophil Granule Proteins ,Middle Aged ,Eosinophil ,medicine.disease ,eye diseases ,Allergic conjunctivitis ,Ophthalmology ,Sjogren's Syndrome ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Tears ,Immunology ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Vernal keratoconjunctivitis - Abstract
Purpose: We investigated the efficacy of the tear sampling method using a filter paper to evaluate eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) levels in patients with allergic disorders. Methods: Subjects were an allergic group comprising patients with allergic conjunctivitis, vernal keratoconjunctivitis, or atopic keratoconjunctivitis, a Sjogren group comprising patients with secondary Sjogren syndrome, and a control group comprising healthy volunteers. Tears were sampled using the Schirmer Method I and the sample was eluted from the filter paper in 50 μL of elution solution containing phosphate buffer solution with 0.5 M NaCl + 0.1% Tween 20. Then the ECP concentration in the elution sample was determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Results: Tear ECP level in the allergic group was significantly higher than the levels in the other two groups (P < .01 for the Sjogren group and P < .001 for the control). Furthermore, the tear ECP level of each allergic disease subgroup in the allergic group was significantly higher than that in the control group. Conclusions: This method of determining tear ECP concentration is useful not only to diagnose allergic conjunctival disorders but also to evaluate their clinical stages.
- Published
- 2003