Levels of the Cytokines IL-5, IL-13 and Rantes in Nasal Lavage Fluids Parallel the Cytokine Content of Nasal Polyps in Patients with Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps (CRSwNP)

Abstract

There is prominent nasal polyp (NP) tissue eosinophilia in the majority of CRSwNP patients. We assessed if there is a concordance in levels of several eosinophil attracting cytokines between nasal lavage fluid (NLF) and NP tissue extracts. Luminex assays were utilized to measure IL-5, IL-13, RANTES, and Eotaxin-1 protein from NLF and uncinate tissue (UT) and NP extracts obtained from control subjects and patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) and CRSwNP. IL-5 and IL-13 were elevated in NLF from CRSwNP patients (IL-5: 2.7x controls, p=0.0162; 3.5x CRSsNP, p=0.0213; IL-13: 1.4x controls, p=0.0094; 2.2x CRSsNP, p=0.0079). IL-5 was elevated in NP compared to UT from all three groups respectively (12x control UT, p<0.0001; 8.5x CRSsNP UT, p=0.0002; 1.9x CRSwNP UT, p=0.0053). IL-13 was elevated in NP compared to control UT (8x, p<0.0001) and CRSsNP UT (6.1x, p=0.0009). In contrast, RANTES was decreased in CRSwNP NLF (0.1x controls, p<0.0001; 0.3x CRSsNP, p=0.05), and NP (0.6x control UT, p=0.027; 0.5x CRSsNP UT, p=0.037; 0.5x CRSwNP UT, p=0.021). Eotaxin-1 was not elevated in NLF from CRSwNP patients, but was elevated in NP compared to control UT (2.8x, p=0.03) and CRSwNP UT (2.9x, p=0.01). NLF concentrations of IL-5, IL-13 and RANTES appear to be representative of their content in polyp tissue. Interestingly, RANTES was decreased in both compartments, indicating it may not play a role in NP eosinophilia. Eotaxin-1 was elevated in NP but not in NLF, suggesting that it may play a role in polyp eosinophilia but not transepithelial migration of eosinophils.