Nasal Polyps Still More Questions than Answers ??

In recent study, an increased expression of GRb mRNA was found in epithelial cell extracts from nasal polyps compared to nasal mucosa, which was more evident in those polyp samples containing more than 3% of inflammatory cells. The higher expression of GRb in nasal polyps apparently accounts for the inflammatory cells that remained after panning, for a correlation was found between GRb expression and the number of inflammatory cells, especially mast cells, present in the epithelial cell extracts. 

This study is tempted to speculate that if we had not removed the inflammatory cell content from nasal polyps, it would probably have found a more marked difference in the expression of GRb mRNA in nasal polyps with respect to nasal mucosa. Indeed, Hamilos and coworkers have recently reported that GRb expression in nasal polyps is confined to inflammatory cells, particularly T lymphocytes, eosinophils, and macrophages.The authors also reported increased number of GRb-positive inflammatory cells in nasal polyps compared to control middle turbinates. Our results showing increased GRb expres¬sion in epithelial cell extracts from nasal polyps are not in contradiction with those of Hamilos 

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New findings reveal that epithelial cells, as opposed to inflammatory cells, from either nasal mucosa or polyps do not significantly express GRb, and further reinforce the concept that the expression of GRb is mainly restricted to inflammatory cells. Contradicting recent hypothesis, the relative resistance of nasal polyp epithelial cells to the anti inflammatory effect of glucocorticoids  does not account for an over expression of GRb in these cells