Short Communications and Brief Case Notes

We previously found an association between the recurrence and onset of Graves ̓thyrotoxicosis and increased thyrotropin (TSH) receptor antibody titers following attacks of allergic rhinitis [13]. The TSH receptor antibody of Graves ̓disease belongs to the immunoglobulin (Ig) G1 subclass [4]. Therefore, the present study was performed to examine the effect of allergen on the release of interleukin (IL) 4, IgG, and IgG1 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Peripheral blood was obtained from a patient with allergic rhinitis secondary to exposure to Japanese cedar pollen, diagnosed by the presence of IgE specifi c to that pollen. PBMCs were isolated by density centrifugation with the Ficoll-Paque Plus device (Amersham Biosciences, Uppsala, Sweden). Cells at a concentration of 2 × 10 cells/mL were incubated in X-VIVO 10 medium (Cambrex BioScience Walkersville, Maryland, USA) for 7 days in the presence of different concentrations (0, 4, and 100 Japanese allergy units [JAU]/mL] of Japanese cedar pollen (Torii, Tokyo, Japan). Concentrations of IL-4 and IgG were then measured in supernatant using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (IL-4, BioSource, Camarillo, California, USA; IgG, Bethyl Laboratories, Montgomery, Texas, USA). Concentrations of IgG1 were also measured in supernatant using biotin-conjugated antihuman IgG1 monoclonal antibody and avidin–horseradish peroxidase conjugate (BD Biosciences, San Jose, California, USA), instead of the antihuman IgG horseradish peroxidase conjugate found within the ELISA kit for IgG. Experiments were repeated 6 times and each measurement in supernatant was performed in triplicate. The points in the fi gures correspond to the means of these 3 determinations. The minimum detectable concentration for IL-4 was 0.1 pg/mL. The paired t test was used to compare concentrations of IL-4, IgG, and IgG1 at the different concentrations. Linear correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between concentrations of IL-4 and IgG. Production of IL-4 was not detected when PBMCs were incubated without Japanese cedar pollen. As shown in Figure 1A, the mean (± SD) production of IL-4 increased when PBMCs from the patient with allergic rhinitis were incubated with increasing concentrations of Japanese cedar pollen (4 JAU/mL, 0.44 ± 0.25 pg/mL, P < .05; 100 JAU/mL, 1.05 ± 0.36 pg/mL, P < .01). The production of IgG also increased when PBMCs Secretion of Interleukin 4 and Immunoglobulin G From Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Allergic Rhinitis Y Hidaka, K Tatsumi Department of Laboratory Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan