All issues > Volume 35(3); 1992

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1992;35(3):296-305. Published online March 15, 1992.

A comparison Study on Soluble FcεR II/CD23 and IL-4 Activities nin the Serum of Children with Allergic and Non-allergic Diseases

Ha-Baik HB Lee¹, Han Young HY Lee¹, Hahng H Lee¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Allergy classically rfes to hypersensitivity reaction induced by chemical mediators released from mast cells and basophils activaed by binding allergens contained in house dust, animal dander, pollen, fungus, food and others to IgE (reaginic antibody) bound on these cells. The significance of low affinity Fc receptor for IgE ( FcεR II, CD23, FcεR II/CD23) on B and T lymphocyts, macrohage , NK cells, follicular dendritic cells, eosinophils and platelets, and of soluble FcεR II /CD23 (sFcεR II/CD23) has been demonstrated to be essential for IgE synthesis in allergic disease and s FcεR II/CD23 levels in srum might help evaluate allergic and some non-allergic diseases. It has also been suggestd that complicated mechanism might exist in the regulation of IgE production in human. And rcently, from in vitro studies of human B lymphocytes from peripheral blood, interleukin 4 (IL-4 or formerly B-cell stiumulation factor-1, BSF-1 ) was found to play a central role in the regulation of IgE production, while it has been suggestd that in vivo IgE synthesis could be further modulatd by the release of soluble FcεR II/cd23 (sFcR II/CD23). However, the exactrelationship between in vivo IgE production and IL-4 and /or sFcεR II/CD23 are not understood well enough so far due to the study difficulties inherent in vivo studies, stmming from their extremely small amount in serum, their very short half life anf various bilological factors influencing on them. To elucidate further on these issues, the study was performed by nmeasuring sFcεR II/CD23 , IL-4 activities and IgE level in the serum samples from 30 children with acut extrinisic asthma and/or rhinitis (n=25), hypersensitivity disorders (n=3) and parasitic diseases (n=2), and comparing them with those from the 10 healthy normal subjects without allergic and/or acute inflammatory disease. The results of the study were as follows: 1. The concentration of sFcεR II/CD23 in the serum varied regardlesss of the age of the study subjects and the severity of their symptoms, but the cncertrations in the study group were significiantly higher than in the ontrol group (p<0.05). 2. The activities of IL-4 in the serum varied also regardless of the age of study subjects and the servirty of their symptoms, anf significant difference in the activities was not observed between the study group and the control. 3. The concentrations of sFcεR II/CD23 was relatively lower in the allergic asthmatics and parasitosis patients with low serum IL-4 while ther they were higher in the asthmatics, hypersensitivity and parssitic patients with high serum IL-4 (p<0.05). 4. The serum IgE values were remarkably higher in the asthmatics and parasitic patients than in the control group (p>0.1). 5. Significant correlation was not observed again between the serum IL-4 and the serum IgE eithr in the study group or in the control group. In conclusion, these results indicate that sFcεR II/CD23 is meaningfully involved in the regulation of IgE synthesis in allergic asthmatics and some non-atopic subjects and that sFcεR II/CD23 is modulated by IL-4 . The variabilities of the dae are assumed to be attributed to various bilogical factors which could exist in in vivo system.

Keywords :Soluble FcεR II/CD23, Allergy, Nonatopic diseases