Up-regulation of chemokine ligand 20 in chronic rhinosinusitis.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the up-regulation of chemokine ligand 20 (CCL20) in chronic rhinosinusitis mucosa and to localize the distribution of CCL20 in the human paranasal sinus mucosa. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Tertiary academic institution. PATIENTS Ten patients who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps and 10 normal control subjects. INTERVENTIONS Messenger RNA was extracted from the sinus mucosa, and semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was performed. Immunohistochemical staining was used to localize the CCL20 protein. RESULTS The expression levels of CCL20 messenger RNA level in chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps were significantly increased compared with those in normal sinus mucosa. The expression of CCL20 protein was greater in chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps mucosa and was localized to the epithelial and submucosal glandular cells. CONCLUSION CCL20 is an inducible product of human paranasal sinus epithelium that may play a role in modulating mucosal immunity of the sinus mucosa.