THURSDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Research in mice suggests that people with eye allergies who receive corneal transplants are at much higher risk of transplant failure than people without these types of allergies.

"We found that the immune system's response to corneal transplants was profoundly elevated in mice with allergic eye disease, resulting in the rejection of 100 percent of the corneal grafts. This was in sharp contrast to the 50 percent rejection rate that occurred in the mice without allergic eye disease," study author Dr. Jerry Niederkorn, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.

In a mouse model, he and his colleagues found that eye allergies altered the immune system's response to corneal transplants in a way that resembled a severe allergic reaction. This dysfunction led to the high rate of corneal graft rejection seen in mice with eye allergies.

The study suggests that simple eye allergies may trigger much more profound immune responses leading to graft rejection. Learning to stop this overactive response may "offer hope for improving the success of corneal transplants in patients with allergic eye diseases," Niederkorn said.

The study appears in the June issue of the Journal of Immunology.

More information

The U.S. National Eye Institute has more about the cornea and corneal disease.