Tonsillar cytokine expression between patients with tonsillar hypertrophy and recurrent tonsillitis

Tonsillar cytokine expression between patients with tonsillar hypertrophy and recurrent tonsillitis

Emilia Mikola, Varpu Elenius, Maria Saarinen, Oscar Palomares, Matti Waris, Riitta Turunen, Tuomo Puhakka, Lotta Ivaska, Beate Rückert, Alar Aab, Tero Vahlberg, Tytti Vuorinen, Tobias Allander, Carlos A Camargo, Mübeccel Akdis, Cezmi A. Akdis, Tuomas Jartti

Abstract Background Tonsils provide an innovative in vivo model for investigating immune response to infections and allergens. However, data are scarce on the differences in tonsillar virus infections and immune responses between patients with tonsillar hypertrophy or recurrent tonsillitis. We investigated the differences in virus detection and T cell and interferon gene expression in patients undergoing tonsillectomy due to tonsillar hypertrophy or recurrent tonsillitis. Methods Tonsils of 89 surgical patients with tonsillar hypertrophy (n = 47) or recurrent tonsillitis (n = 42) were analysed. Patients were carefully characterized clinically. Standard questionnaire was used to asses preceding and allergy symptoms. Respiratory viruses were analysed in tonsils and nasopharynx by PCR. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to analyse intratonsillar gene expressions of IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-13, IL-17, IL-28, IL-29, IL-37, TGF-β, FOXP3, GATA3, RORC2 and Tbet. Results Median age of the subjects was 15 years (range 2–60). Patients with tonsillar hypertrophy were younger, smoked less often, had less pollen allergy and had more adenovirus, bocavirus-1, coronavirus and rhinovirus in nasopharynx (all P 

2018

allergy, Asthma, Child, cytokine, interferon, interleukin

DOI: 10.1186/s13601-018-0205-z

Clinical and Translational Allergy

BMC

Immunologic diseases. Allergy

EN