The Expression of Bcl-xL and Bax in Nasal Polyps

Hwang, Sung Jae; Yoon, He Ro; Cho, Jin Hee; Bang, Choong Ill; Kang, Jun Myung; Park, Jae Woo; Kang, Min Gon

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The etiology and the pathophysiology of nasal polyps are still not definitely known and recently, it is suggested that inflammatory responses involving eosinophils may play a major role. The process of the infiltration of eosinophils in tissues is explained by the increase of the movement of eosinophils to the inflammatory area and the delay of apoptosis which results in the longer survival of eosinophils. Recently, there have been studies showing how eosinophils extracted from blood expressed their anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL genes and pro-apoptotic Bax genes when put in a delayed apoptotic condition. The purpose of this study is to investigate Bcl-xL and Bax expressions of eosinophils in nasal polyps and how allergic rhinitis affect their expressions. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Nasal polyps were obtained from patients with chronic paranasal sinusitis (30 cases) and nasal polyps were divided into two groups, one obtained from the patient with allergic rhinitis (15 cases) and the other obtained from the patient without allergic rhinitis (15 cases). The normal control group consisted of 5 cases of normal nasal mucosa in the inferior turbinate. The immunohistochemical stain was used to detect eosinophils and the cells expressing Bcl-xL and Bax.
RESULTS
In nasal polyps, a significant statistical correlation between eosinophil numbers and Bcl-xL positive cell numbers was detected. But there was no correlation between them in the normal control. The Bax positive cell numbers had a correlation to eosinophil numbers in both the normal control and nasal polyps. And allergic rhinitis did not affect the expression of Bcl-xL and Bax of eosinophils in nasal polyps.
CONCLUSION
The authors propose that in eosinophils of nasal polyps, Bcl-xL plays an important role in delayed apoptosis and allergic rhinitis has no effect on the expression of Bcl-xL and Bax.