The presence of atopy does not determine the type of cellular infiltrate in nasal polyps

Any relationship between atopy and nasal polyposis remains to be further studied to determine the contribution of atopy to the pathogenesis of nasal polyps.

We have compared the inflammatory cellular infiltrate in nasal polyp tissue taken during resection from 10 atopic and 11 non-atopic subjects. We have used immunohistochemistry to enumerate the individual inflammatory cell types using monoclonal antibodies against tryptase (AA1) to identify mast cells, the secreted forms of eosinophil cationic protein (EG2) to identify activated eosinophils, neutrophil elastase (NE+) to demonstrate neutrophils, and T cell surface markers (CD3) to identify pan T cells.

The number of AA1+ and NE+ cells tended to be higher in atopics, but no statistical significance was found (p = 0.06, p = 0.12). Eosinophil numbers (EG2) were abundant in both groups and found to be not different between them (p = 0.65). Some subjects had CD3+ cells with no significant difference between atopic and non-atopic subjects (p = 0.21). Significant correlation was found between NE+ and AA1+ or EG2 cells (r = 0.59, r = 0.63, p < 0.05, respectively).

These results suggest that the presence of atopy does not determine either the type of extent of cellular infiltration of nasal polyps.