57 Increased Frequency of CD4+ CCR4+ CCR9+ Cells in Patients With Allergic Conjunctivitis

BACKGROUND: Allergic conjunctivitis is one of the most common diseases affecting the ocular surface, it has been suggested that T CD4+ cells regulate immune response in allergic diseases such as asthma and rhinitis, in a predominant Th2 response. In animal models, it has been observed a selective migration of CD4+ T cells to conjunctiva directed by chemokines; however molecules involved in CD4+ T cell migration in humans is unknown, thus it was the aim of this study. METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from blood samples of healthy donors (HD) and AC-patients. PBMC were labeled with mAbs against CD4, CCR4, CCR5, and CRR9, and then labeled cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. T test was used to perform statistical analysis, P < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: We observed increased frequency of CCR4+ and CCR9+ on PBMC cells; interestingly, expression of CCR4+ was 1.46 times increased on CD4+ T cells of AC-patients compared to CD4+ T cells of HD (P = 0.01). Similarly, we observed higher frequency of CCR9 expression on CD4+ cells of AC-patients than on CD4+ T cells of HD (P = 0.01). On the other hand, CCR5 expression was diminished on PBMC from AC-patients than in HD (P = 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: Increased frequency of CD4+ CCR4+ CCR9+ was observed in AC patients with diminished frequency of CCR5 expression on PBMC. CCR4 and CCR9 have been involved in inflammatory process such arthritis and asthma, both could be related to inflammatory reaction at conjunctiva. CCR5 expression is mainly on Th1 cells, diminished frequency on PBMC in allergic conjunctivitis patients could be related with imbalance of immune response favoring a Th2 chronic inflammation.