[Genetic disposition to chronic polypoid sinusitis and alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor deficiency types]

Chronic polypoid sinusitis is often accompanied with bronchitis, asthma and various allergies. All of these disorders have immunologic defects in common. The present study was devised to measure the genetically determined parameter of alpha-1-protease inhibitor by isoelectric focusing. Genetic polymorphism of alpha-1-antitrypsin is the source for biochemically less active types of the protease inhibitor. In this investigation the alpha-1-protease inhibitor type of 86 patients from Niedersaxony and 95 patients from Schleswig-Holstein was determined. All patients required sinus surgery as treatment for chronic polypoid sinusitis. The alpha-1-protease inhibitor deficiency types PI-MS and PI-MZ were found five times more frequently in patients from Niedersachsony and three times more often in patients from Schleswig-Holstein than in a control (normal) group of 127 subjects (p < 0.01). These findings were comparable to data in other publications. Results clearly showed a connection between alpha-1-protease inhibitor deficiency types and chronic polypoid sinusitis. These findings indicate that a genetic predisposition to chronic polypoid sinusitis is somehow correlated with the gene locus for alpha-1-protease inhibitor.