Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P15088 (mast cell)
 14,925 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The presence of eosinophils in the conjunctival epithelium is indicative of allergies, and detection is currently performed by cotton swab scrapings. Although mast cells are thought to be chemotactic for eosinophils and thus presage their accumulation, the former's use as early indicators of allergy has heretofore been hindered by poor detection methods. The recent development of a special brush now makes it possible to collect many cells with less disturbance of the conjunctival epithelium. In the present study, we have used this brush for conjunctival scraping in 18 patients with vernal and allergic conjunctivitis, and 10 patients serving as controls. The superior and inferior tarsal conjunctiva in both eyes were examined, and the specimens were stained using Hansel's method. Mast cells were observed in at least one of the tarsal conjunctivae in all cases of vernal and allergic conjunctivitis, whereas eosinophils were so observed in only eight cases (44.4%). Neither mast cells nor eosinophils were present in the conjunctivae of the normal group. Although treatment by mast cell stabilizers produced clinical remissions, they induced disappearance of mast cells in only 10 cases (55.6%), whereas in six cases (33.3%) the mast cells increased, and in two cases they were unchanged (11.1%). Six cases (33.3%) each showed disappearance of, increase in, and no change in eosinophils, reflecting even less of a response of these allergic cells to the treatment. The presence of mast cells and eosinophils, as determined by our cytologic method, was found to be correlated with the early detection, but not the clinical severity, of allergic conjunctivitis.
Cornea 1991 Nov
PMID:Detection by brush cytology of mast cells and eosinophils in allergic and vernal conjunctivitis. 178 81

Tryptase is useful as a specific and accurate indicator of mast cell activation, whereas histamine, a mast cell's major mediator, also exists in basophils. The aim of this study is to investigate histamine and tryptase levels in allergic conjunctiva. We measured histamine and tryptase levels in conjunctival epithelial cell suspension of children with allergic conjunctivitis (AC) and vernal kerato-conjunctivitis (VKC), and controls, and we evaluated correlations with clinical observations. Both the histamine and tryptase levels in VKC were significantly higher than controls (p < 0.05, p < 0.01), and histamine levels in VKC was also greater than AC (p < 0.05). The histamine/tryptase (H/T) ratios were 0.03 +/- 0.04 in AC, 0.08 +/- 0.09 in VKC and 0.006 +/- 0.006 in controls. The H/T ratios in VKC were significantly higher than controls (p < 0.05) and AC (p < 0.05), and were also found to correlate with the superficial punctate keratopathy (SPK) score (r2 = 0.89). Analyzing the histamine and tryptase levels in conjunctival epithelium may be useful in evaluating the allergic ocular surface, especially in the cases with SPK, where the increase in the histamine levels is not accompanied by an increase in tryptase levels. This suggests an important role for inflammatory cells such as basophils infiltrating into the conjunctival epithelium in allergic reactions.
Cornea 1994 Jul
PMID:Histamine and tryptase levels in allergic conjunctivitis and vernal keratoconjunctivitis. 792 35

The mechanism of ocular surface allergy in the forms of atopic conjunctivitis and vernal keratoconjunctivitis has been highlighted by specific functions of chemokines. In the context of late-phase allergic responses, these molecules have key roles in recruitment and activation of leukocytes. Their interaction with ligands is redundantly regulated; however, results from strategies to block subsets of chemokines have revealed unexpected or highly organized roles of these mediators. Exemplified by analyses of CCL11 function, current concepts of ocular allergy support CCL11 as central mediator. We emphasize the functions as modulator of mast cell activation/differentiation. With the prospect of understanding these functions, new modalities of drugs specifically developed to target CCL11/CCR3 interaction have been discussed.
Cornea 2004 Nov
PMID:Roles of chemokines in ocular allergy and possible therapeutic strategies. 1544 80

Pollinosis, or allergic conjunctivitis and rhinitis induced by pollen, is one of the most common diseases worldwide. In Japan, Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollinosis is a predominant allergic condition that affects more than one-third of all Japanese individuals. Pharmacological treatments of allergic conjunctivitis include administration of antiallergic eye drops containing an antihistamine or mast cell stabilizer. However, these topical treatments provide transient relief from symptoms. The only available curative treatment for allergic diseases is allergen-specific immunotherapy. Sublingual immunotherapy for pollinosis has been found to be effective for suppression of ocular and nasal symptoms, but patient compliance is low. Oral administration of staple foods engineered to express allergens is a possible means of delivering antigens for immunotherapy, and its convenience would be expected to improve compliance. With the aim of developing more convenient, effective, and safe immunotherapies for allergic diseases, we have generated rice-based edible vaccines expressing antigens derived from dust mites or pollen from Japanese cedar, birch, or ragweed. In this study, we summarize the results of our immunotherapy studies using transgenic rice. Oral immunotherapy with transgenic rice seeds containing hypoallergenic modified forms of Japanese cedar pollen antigens was effective for both preventing allergic conjunctivitis and suppressing established disease in mice. Oral administration of transgenic rice seeds is thus a promising approach to immunotherapy for conjunctivitis and rhinitis induced by Japanese cedar pollen.
Cornea 2018 Nov
PMID:Oral Immunotherapy for Allergic Conjunctivitis Using Transgenic Rice Expressing Hypoallergenic Antigens. 3025 84