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Carine Delbrouck, MD; Hans-Joachim Gabius, PhD; Herbert Kaltner, VetMD; Christine Decaestecker, PhD; Robert Kiss, PhD; Sergio Hassid, MD, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2003;129:665-669.

Background  The term nasal polyposis describes benign growth processes in the nasal and sinus mucosa, which are mainly located in the middle meatus and never in the inferior meatus. As a step to define the biochemical determinants relevant for growth regulation, we focused on endogenous lectins known for anti-apoptotic (galectin-3) and immunomodulatory (galectin-1) activities.

Design  Using computer-assisted microscopy, we performed an immunohistochemical investigation defining the quantitative parameters of expression of galectin-1 and galectin-3 in 10 nasal polyps, 10 middle turbinates, and 10 inferior turbinates, all of which were obtained from surgical resection.

Results  Our data show that galectin-3 expression is markedly (P<.001) higher in nasal polyps than in turbinates. No relation to the allergic status was discovered. Galectin-1 expression is higher in nasal polyps than in middle turbinates (P<.001) in nonallergic patients compared with allergic ones (in glandular epithelium, P = .009; in connective tissue, P = .006). The lowest galectin-1 expression was observed in the middle turbinate.

Conclusions  These data are in line with a positive influence of galectin-3 on growth and an immunoregulatory role of galectin-1, mimicking an increased expression dependent on glucocorticoid.

From the Ear, Nose, and Throat Department, Erasmus University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium (Drs Delbrouck and Hassid); the Institute of Physiogical Chemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany (Drs Gabius and Kaltner); and the Laboratory of Histopathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universite Libre de Bruxells, Brussels (Drs Decaestecker and Kiss). The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.

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