Background: Eotaxin is one of the important chemokines that modulate allergic inflammation. In many studies a correlation between an elevated serum concentration of eotaxin, allergen exposure and allergic symptoms has been confirmed. Influence of other factors on eotaxin concentration is feebly recognized. We made an attempt to assess the influence of age and gender on the serum eotaxin level in healthy people and in patients with intermittent IgE-mediated rhinoconjunctivitis (AR).

Methods: The serum eotaxin level was measured in 245 healthy people and 241 patients with AR before the pollen season with the ELISA technique (KITS, R&D USA, pg/ml). The parametric tests and linear regression analysis were used in statistical calculations.

Results: There were no differences between the allergic group and the healthy one in the mean age (accordingly: 31.3±11.6 yrs. vs. 31.6±12.5 yrs.; p=0.1) and the mean serum eotaxin content (118.1±44.9 pg/ml vs. 116.3±34.8 pg/ml; p=0.3). A significant relationship between the serum eotaxin level, gender and age was revealed in both groups and regression models were derived. A linear correlation between age (semi-partial correlation ß = 0.47, p= 0.0000001) and gender (semi-partial correlation ß = 0.3, p = 0.0000001), on the one side, and the serum eotaxin level, on the other, was found for the allergic people. In the control group a similar relationship between the serum eotaxin level and age (semi-partial correlation coefficient ß = 0.63, p = 0.0000001) and gender (semi-partial correlation factor ß = 0.23, p = 0.000006) was observed.

Conclusions: Age and sex significantly influence the serum eotaxin content in healthy people and patients with IgE-mediated rhinoconjunctivitis.

Key words: eotaxin, allergy, alergic inflammation, CC-chemokines