Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2008 Feb;51(2):148-152.

The Correlation Study between the Specific IgE for Staphylococcus Aureus Exotoxin and Nasal Mucus Culture in Allergic Rhinitis

• Yoon JH
• Kim SY
• Gang IG
• Kim ST

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is a reported association between the increased levels of specific IgE and Staphylococcus aureus exotoxins (SE) and eosinophilic inflammation in nasal polyp tissue. However, the role of IgE to SE in allergic rhinitis has not been known definitely. We sought to find whether the specific IgE to SE has a correlation with the allergic rhinitis.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
Nasal mucosa and serum were obtained from 30 patients undergoing submucous turbinectomy of inferior turbinates for allergic rhinitis and 20 control patients undergoing septoplasty. Nasal culture was performed for each patient. Specific IgE levels for S. aureus exotoxin A (SEA), S. aureus exotoxin B (SEB), and toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) were measured using ImmunoCAP method in both nasal mucosa and serum.
RESULTS
The culture rate for S. aureus was 13.3% for allergic rhinitis and 10% for the control. The specific IgE for S. aureus in serum was significantly expressed in allergic rhinitis (30%) compared to in the control (10%). In nasal mucosa of allergic rhinitis patients, the specific IgE has shown higher expression rate (20%) than the control (0%).
CONCLUSION
Our results demonstrated that there is a correlation between allergic rhinitis and specific IgE to S. aureus exotoxin in both nasal mucosa and serum. These results suggest that S. aureus exotoxin can act as a traditional allergen and induce the development of allergic rhinitis.

Keyword

Staphylococcus aureus; Exotoxin; Immunoglobulin E; Allergic rhinitis

MeSH Terms

Eosinophils
Exotoxins
Humans
Immunoglobulin E
Inflammation
Mucus
Nasal Mucosa
Nasal Polyps
Rhinitis
Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial
Shock, Septic
Staphylococcus
Staphylococcus aureus
Statistics as Topic
Turbinates
Exotoxins
Immunoglobulin E