title: Differences in airway inflammation according to atopic status in patients with chronic rhinitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic rhinitis is a heterogeneous group of diseases that cause nasal inflammation. And the nose may be a window into the lung in the concept of "one airway one disease."
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was conducted to evaluate differences between the different forms of chronic rhinitis in terms of lower airway inflammation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients that attended the allergy clinic and presented with moderate/severe persistent rhinitis symptoms for more than 1 year were enrolled. The patients with chronic rhinitis were classified into two groups (house dust mites [HDM]-sensitive allergic rhinitis [AR] or non-allergic rhinitis [NAR]) according to the presence of atopy, and additionally according to nasal polyposis and airway hyperresponsiveness, respectively. Medical records were reviewed and the mRNA expression levels of IL-5, IFN-γ, TGF-β1, IL-17A, and IL-25 were evaluated in induced sputum samples in each group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Induced sputum samples of 53 patients were evaluated. Patients with NAR were significantly older than patients with HDM-sensitive AR (p < 0.05). Nasal polyposis was more prevalent in NAR patients than in HDM-sensitive AR patients (10.2% vs. 62.5%, p < 0.001). The expression levels of IL-17A mRNA were higher in NAR patients, regardless of the presence of airway hyperresponsiveness (p = 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that patients with different forms of chronic rhinitis could have different inflammatory environments in their lower airway and NAR patients might have bronchial inflammation related to the elevated levels of IL-17A compared to HDM-sensitive AR patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 110-799, Korea. ; Institute of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul 110-460, Korea. ; Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam 463-707, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Tae-Wan
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyung-Mook
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae-Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Sang-Heon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Kyung-Up
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: You-Young
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Heung-Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Park
keywords: Allergy; Asthma; IL-17A; Nasal polyps; Rhinitis; Sputum