Role of allergy and mucosal inflammation in nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis

Abstract

Nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis are closely related diseases with unclear pathogenesis. Our study is aimed to investigate the association of allergy and the pattern of mucosal inflammation in Asian patients with these diseases. Inflammatory cell pattern characterized by significantly higher CD8+ T cell, eosinophil and neutrophil scores, and an inverse median ratio of CD4+/CD8+ T cells in nasal polyps/inflamed sinus mucosa and adjacent middle turbinates was demonstrated by immunohistochemical staining with a panel of antibodies. A significantly increased NK cell number was evidenced in nasal polyp tissue. Immunoarray dotblot with 185 allergens revealed that Trichophyton rubrum was the most important allergen in the patients. This was proved by western blot. By Q-TOFa??-MS/MS, HPLC and N-terminal sequencing, proteins from Trichophyton rubrum which are homologous with a 35 kD heat shock protein (sti35) and 1, 3-I?-glucanosyltransferase of Fusarium spp. were proved to have the strongest antigenecity in these patients.