Increased gene expression of inflammatory markers in nasal turbinate of patients with persistent allergic rhinitis and chronic obstruction.

PURPOSE

The pathogenesis of persistent allergic rhinitis with chronic and refractory nasal obstruction is still unknown. Inflammation and tissue remodeling are known to play a role, but this has not been studied thoroughly. The purpose of this study is to identify the profile of gene expression of inflammatory and remodeling markers in nasal mucosa of patients with PAR and chronic obstruction.

METHODS

After informed consent, we obtained nasal mucosa tissue from five aeroallergen-sensitized PAR patients undergoing anterior turbinectomy, and control non-sensitized individuals undergoing cerebrospinal fluid fistula repair or rhinoplasty. We assessed the expression of 34 genes related to inflammation and tissue remodeling using the real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to quantify each mRNA.

RESULTS

IL-4 mRNA was upregulated in nasal mucosa of all five patients; CCR3, CCR8 and Eotaxin-2 were upregulated in four out of five patient samples; while IL-5 and IL-13 were upregulated in two of them. TGF-β1 was not upregulated in PAR samples. mRNA from metalloproteinases MMP-7, MMP13 and MMP15 were upregulated in three out of five samples. Our results indicate a typical mRNA expression profile of the infiltrating inflammatory Th2 cells and eosinophils, combined with altered gene expression of remodeling-related proteins in stromal cells from the mucosa.

CONCLUSION

Prolonged allergen challenge can lead to persistent upregulation of genes for inflammatory mediators such as IL-4 Th2/eosinophil cytokines, chemokines and receptors, which may play an important role in maintaining PAR with chronic nasal obstruction. Our findings may have therapeutic implications, including the use of anti-IL4, -CCR3 or -MMP therapy to ameliorate the condition.