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Allergen-specific IgE in the tear fluid of Chinese patients with common allergic conjunctivitis in autumn and winter

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Abstract

Purpose

In this study, we determined the positive rates of allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the tear fluid of Chinese patients with common allergic conjunctivitis (AC) in autumn and winter, compared systemic and ocular allergen tests, and explored the correlation between the numbers and categories of allergens and clinical AC features.

Methods

This cross-sectional study recruited 44 patients with AC (86 eyes). Specific IgEs for allergens common in China (house dust mite, cat/dog dander, mugwort/ragweed pollen, cottonwood/willow/elm pollen, milk, egg whites, soybeans) were measured in collected tears using kits for allergen-specific IgE antibodies. AC signs and symptoms were graded according to severity.

Results

Specific IgE in tears was positive in 87.2% of eyes. House dust mite was the most common allergen (86.0%), followed by cat (24.4%) and dog (7.0%) dander; tree and grass pollen accounted for only 4.7% and 2.3%, respectively. Food allergens were not detected. The positive rates of the systemic allergen tests were lower than in tear fluid tests in both eyes, especially for house dust mites (P = 0.000). In patients with more allergens, itching was more severe (P = 0.035), while conjunctival hyperemia was milder (P = 0.002).

Conclusion

In autumn and winter, the most common AC allergen in Chinese patients was house dust mites. Compared with systemic allergen tests, measuring specific IgE in tears may be a non-invasive method to diagnose and evaluate AC severity, which may be more suitable to reflect the local conditions of ocular surface inflammation due to its high positive rate and convenience.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, China (Grant Number: 7202229).

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Author notes

  1. Hongmei Wang, Xiaodan Jiang and Pei Zhang have contributed equally to this work and should be considered as equal first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Peking University Third Hospital Eye Center, 49 North Garden Rd, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, People’s Republic of China

    Hongmei Wang, Xiaodan Jiang, Pei Zhang, Yingyu Li, Yiren Wang & Xuemin Li

Authors
  1. Hongmei Wang
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  2. Xiaodan Jiang
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  3. Pei Zhang
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  4. Yingyu Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by Hongmei Wang, Pei Zhang and Xiaodan Jiang. Data collection was performed by Pei Zhang, Hongmei Wang, Xuemin Li and Yingyu Li. Data analysis was performed by Hongmei Wang and Yiren Wang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Hongmei Wang and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xuemin Li.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Peking University Third Hospital.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Wang, H., Jiang, X., Zhang, P. et al. Allergen-specific IgE in the tear fluid of Chinese patients with common allergic conjunctivitis in autumn and winter. Int Ophthalmol 43, 4541–4549 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02854-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02854-4

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