胸腺基质淋巴细胞生成素在艾蒿花粉致敏性季节性变应性鼻炎患者鼻上皮细胞中的表达增加。

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin expression is increased in nasal epithelial cells of patients with mugwort pollen sensitive-seasonal allergic rhinitis.

机构信息

Department of Otorhinolarygology, Head & Neck Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130033, China.

出版信息

Chin Med J (Engl). 2009 Oct 5;122(19):2303-7.

DOI:

PMID:20079130

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Excessive expression of thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) has been demonstrated in asthmatic airway epithelia and in nasal epithelia from animal models of allergic rhinitis (AR), but the evidence of expression of TSLP in nasal epithelial cells (NECs) of patients with AR is lacking. We aimed to investigate the expression of TSLP in NECs of patients with mugwort sensitive-seasonal AR and determine whether it is associated with severity of symptoms and the number of infiltrated eosinophils in nasal mucosa.

METHODS

NECs specimens were obtained by scraping with plastic curettes from the nasal inferior turbinates of patients with mugwort pollen sensitive-seasonal AR (n = 22) and nonallergic controls (n = 11) during last peak mugwort pollen season. The severity of nasal symptom was assessed using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). In addition, serum mugwort pollen IgE levels were tested from each patient. In situ hybridization (ISH) was performed to test the messenger RNA (mRNA) of TSLP in the NECs. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining (IHC) was scored to evaluate the expression of TSLP and eosinophil cell count was made by May-Grünwald/Giemsa staining. The correlation between expression of TSLP and all other parameters was analyzed in this study.

RESULTS

The mRNA level of TSLP was significantly increased in NECs of patients with AR compared with the nonallergic control group (P < 0.05). In addition, IHC results showed that expression of TSLP in NECs from patients with AR was up-regulated which was correlated with VAS score (r = 0.598; P < 0.05) and nasal eosinophils count (r = 0.702; P < 0.05), but it was unrelated with mugwort pollen specific IgE level.

CONCLUSIONS

These preliminary findings indicate a potential relationship between TSLP expression, severity of symptoms and nasal eosinophils count in pathogenesis of AR, but TSLP expression did not correlate with mugwort pollen specific IgE level. The elevated expression of TSLP might play a critical role in local atopical responses of AR. In the future, the TSLP has the potential to be one of the most important molecular markers for AR diagnoses and assessment.

摘要

背景

胸腺基质淋巴细胞生成素 (TSLP) 的过度表达已在哮喘气道上皮和变应性鼻炎 (AR) 的动物模型的鼻上皮中得到证实，但 AR 患者鼻上皮细胞 (NEC) 中 TSLP 的表达证据尚缺乏。本研究旨在探讨花粉致敏季节性 AR 患者 NEC 中 TSLP 的表达情况，并确定其与症状严重程度和鼻黏膜浸润嗜酸性粒细胞数量的相关性。

方法

在艾蒿花粉致敏季节性 AR 患者（n=22）和非变应性对照者（n=11）艾蒿花粉高峰季节，采用塑料刮匙从下鼻甲获得 NEC 标本。使用视觉模拟量表 (VAS) 评估鼻症状严重程度。此外，对每位患者进行血清艾蒿花粉 IgE 水平检测。采用原位杂交 (ISH) 检测 NEC 中 TSLP 的信使 RNA (mRNA)。通过 May-Grünwald/Giemsa 染色进行 TSLP 表达的免疫组织化学染色 (IHC) 评分，并计算嗜酸性粒细胞计数。本研究分析了 TSLP 表达与所有其他参数之间的相关性。

结果

与非变应性对照组相比，AR 患者的 NEC 中 TSLP 的 mRNA 水平显著增加（P<0.05）。此外，IHC 结果显示，AR 患者的 NEC 中 TSLP 的表达上调，与 VAS 评分（r=0.598；P<0.05）和鼻嗜酸性粒细胞计数（r=0.702；P<0.05）呈正相关，但与艾蒿花粉特异性 IgE 水平无关。