Detecion of sIgE, tryptase, IL-8, IL-12, and eotaxin in plasma of patients with pollinosis in summer or autumn and their clinical implications

AIM:To investigate the correlations between plasma levels of tryptase, interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-12 (IL-12) and eotaxin in the patients with grass pollinosis in summer and autumn and their clinical significances. METHODS:A total of 37 patients with grass pollinosis and 23 healthy controls were recruited into the study. Plasma tryptase levels were determined by Unicap Tryptase fluoroimmunoassay. The levels of IL-8, IL-12 and eotaxin were detected by double sandwich ELISA method. RESULTS:The plasma level of IL-8 was significantly increased in the patients with pollinosis as compared with healthy controls (t=2.56, P0.05). In contrast, the plasma level of IL-12 was significantly decreased in the patients with pollinosis as compared with the healthy controls (P0.05). But the levels of tryptase and eotaxin had no significant differences between the patients and the volunteers (P0.05). The significant correlations were only between IL-8 and IL-12 (P0.01) and between IL-8 and eota-xin (P0.05). CONLUSION: Occurrence of pollinosis is related to many inflammatory cells including mast cells and inflammatory mediators. The down-regulation of Th1 cytokines may contribute to the pathogenesis of pollinosis.