Allergies increase corneal transplant rejection rate in animal study

DALLAS — Ocular allergies seem to heighten the risk for corneal transplant failure, a study in mice suggests.

Jerry Niederkorn, MD, and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found “the immune system’s response to corneal transplants was profoundly elevated in mice with allergic eye disease,” resulting in a 100% rejection rate. This rate was twice as high as in control mice without allergic eye disease, according to a press release from UT Southwestern.

The researchers said the animal study may explain clinical observations that patients with eye allergies have a significantly higher risk of rejecting corneal transplants than patients without eye allergies.

“The presence of eye allergies altered the immune system’s response to the corneal transplants in a manner that resembled a severe allergic response and culminated in a dramatic increase in corneal graft rejection,” Dr. Niederkorn said in the release. In addition, the mice with allergies had a faster rejection rate than the mice without ocular allergies, Dr. Niederkorn noted.

In a second study, the researchers applied ragweed pollen to the right eye of the mice but the cornea was transplanted to the left eye, which was free of local allergic responses. All of those corneal grafts were rejected as well.

The study will be published in the June issue of Journal of Immunology.