Amount of pollen has an effect on the systemic and local levels of soluble ICAM-1 in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis.

Abstract

We investigated whether the amount of antigen has an effect on the systemic and local levels of soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) in patients with pollinosis, and assessed its biologic significance. The levels of subjective symptoms and sICAM-1 in sera and nasal epithelial lining fluids (ELF) from 14 subjects with pollinosis (allergic group) and eight healthy subjects (control group) were measured from pre- to postseason in 1993 (total pollen count: 10,854/cm2) and 1994 (total pollen count: 415/cm2), and the results were compared with each other among the four groups. The levels of subjective symptoms and sICAM-1 in ELF from the allergic group significantly increased during the season in both 1993 and 1994. However, there was a significant difference (P < 0.01) between the levels of those in 1993 and those in 1994 during the season. The levels of sICAM-1 in sera from the allergic group were significantly upregulated during the seasons and postseasons only in 1993, and there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between the levels in 1993 and those in 1994 during the postseason. We conclude that amount of pollen has an influence on the local and systemic levels of sICAM-1, as well as the scores of subjective symptoms, in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis.