Involvement of inferior turbinate mucosa in chronic sinusitis - localization of T-cell subset

Background: In chronic sinusitis (CS), different subsets of leukocytes are involved in development of persistent inflammation of the nasal mucosa. The localization and differentiation of these infiltrating lymphocytes may hel p us to understand the inflammatory interactions in the epithelium, lamina propria, and seromucous glands of the nasal mucosa in CS. Methods: We examined frozen sections of inferior turbinates from 14 patient s with nonallergic CS and 10 normal nonallergic controls. We used the avidi n-biotin-peroxidase (ABC) technique with monoclonal antibodies against CD3 (total T cells), CD4 (T-helper/inducer cells), CD8 (T-suppressor/cytotoxic cells), CD22 (B cells), CD56 (natural killer cells), elastase (neutrophil g ranulocytes), eosinophil cationic protein (eosinophil granulocytes), and CD 68 (macrophages). Results: We found significant increases (P < 0.05) of CD3, CD4, and CD8 T c ells and B cells in the nasal mucosa of patients with CS. The number of CD6 8 cells and eosinophils showed no significant rise. Conclusions: The different types of leukocytes play a key role in the defen se of the respiratory tract. The analysis of the distribution of cells in t he epithelium, mucosa, and glands of the inferior turbinate confirmed that nonallergic CS is, in fact, chronic, bacterial rhinosinusitis involving the inferior turbinates, and that the pathomechanism is therefore different fr om that of nasal polyposis.