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DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1639798
Cytokine expression patterns in the serum of a subgroup of patients with idiopathic rhinitis are similar to those in allergic rhinitis
Introduction:
Patients with rhinitis of unclear etiology (idiopathic rhinitis, IR) often present with identical symptoms like patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) but cause diagnostic and therapeutic problems due to the lack of allergen detection. Cytokines and cytokine expression patterns (CEP) of AR patients should indicate an imbalance in the immune system and may be indicators (surrogate markers) for the presence of allergy. The identification of an IR subgroup with allergic genesis by an allergy-associated CEP is conceivable. We examined whether IR-patients have CEP different from healthy blood donors (HBD) and AR patients potentially useful for differential diagnosis.
Methods:
Sera from healthy subjects (n = 8), patients with IR (n = 39) or AR (n = 16) against inhaled allergens were tested for interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and chemokines IL-8 and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) were analyzed by ELISA.
Results:
While there were no significantly different levels of IL-6 in HBD, AR and IR, AR patients showed elevated TNF-α levels. Increased IFN-γ levels were found in IR patients., A significantly greater heterogeneity in MCP-1 and IL-8 levels was observed in IR patients (p < 0.05; p < 0.001). Some IR patients showed > 10-fold increased levels of IL-8 and MCP-1.
Summary:
IR patients' heterogeneity in CEP adds to the clinical picture that IR diagnosis does not specify an etiologically homogeneous disease. Nearly 50% show CEP similar to those of AR patients. The symptomatic treatment of these IR patients should be similar to AR patients. However, the diagnosis should focus on the identification of allergens and causal treatment of AR within the IR patients.
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No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).
Publication History
Publication Date:
18 April 2018 (online)
© 2018. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Stuttgart · New York