Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.  2020 Mar;12(2):364-370. 10.4168/aair.2020.12.2.364.

Primary Nasal Epithelial Cells From Allergic and Non-allergic Individuals Show Comparable Barrier Function

• Waltl EE
• Stanek V
• Mueller CA
• Kiss R
• Eckl-Dorna J
• Valenta R
• Niederberger V

• KMID: 2468468
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aair.2020.12.2.364

Abstract

Previous reports suggested that ex vivo cultured primary nasal epithelial cells from allergic patients differ from those from non-allergic individuals by genuinely reduced barrier function. By contrast, we found that primary nasal epithelial cells from allergic and non-allergic individuals showed comparable barrier function and secretion of cytokines.

Keyword

Respiratory epithelial barrier function; allergic rhinitis; allergen; immunoglobulin E; allergen-microarray; transepithelial resistance

MeSH Terms

Cytokines
Epithelial Cells*
Humans
Immunoglobulin E
Rhinitis, Allergic
Cytokines
Immunoglobulin E

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Transepithelial resistance and impedance of cultured primary human nasal epithelial cells from non-allergic and allergic subjects. (A) Epithelial barrier function was measured by analyzing TER after 21 days of ALI cultured cells. (B) Impedance-based values were obtained after 7 days in submerged cultures. Samples were extracted from inferior turbinates from allergic (right panel; squares) and non-allergic (left panel; dots) patients. Smoking subjects are labeled in red. Statistical significance analyses were performed with the unpaired t-test. Standard deviation values are visualized as error bars. TER, trans-epithelial electrical resistance; ALI, air-liquid interface.

• 

  Fig. 2 Cytokine levels of supernatants from cultured primary human nasal epithelial cells obtained from non-allergic and allergic subjects. On the left are the results from 13 non-allergic individuals (dots). To the right are the results from 9 allergic patients (squares). Proinflammatory cytokines that were measured after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of culture include GM-CSF (A), IL-33 (B), RANTES (C), IL-1α (D) and TSLP (E). A different scale is used in A as a higher level of GM-CSF is expressed compared with the other cytokines. GM-CSF, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor; IL, interleukin; RANTES, regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted; TSLP: thymic stromal lymphopoietin.

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