The theory of a "staphylococcus superantigen" in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps: myth or reality?

The aim of our study was to search for evidence of a "staphylococcus superantigen" in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

Sixty-nine patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and 45 healthy controls were included in the study. All patients in the study and control groups underwent bacteriological and immunological examination on nasal smear samples. Total IgE and the following cytokines were tested in all patients: tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-1 (IL1), interleukin-6 (IL6), interleukin-8 (IL8).

The concentration of bacteria in the nasal cavity was much higher in patients in the study group compared to those in the control group, mainly due to staphylococci. In species identification of staphylococci, bacteria most represented were S. aureus and S. epidermidis. The greater the concentration of S. aureus, the lower the level of IgE. Proinflammatory cytokines were uniformly increased in patients with nasal polyps. The level of IgE was maximal in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps with a poor growth of culture and minimal in patients with abundant growth, suggesting that in the latter the effect of eosinophilic inflammation on the disease was reduced, and conversely, the activity of eosinophilic inflammation was maximal with a poor seeding of the nasal cavity.

Although this study has some limits, our findings do not support the theory of a staphylococcus superantigen in which the IgE level and eosinophilic inflammation should increase with increasing activity of Staphylococcus aureus. Further research supported by a larger sample of patients is required to better delineate the role of a staphylococcus superantigen in the pathogenesis of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.