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Assessing tissue transcription biomarkers of chronic rhinosinusitis: a comparison of sampling methodologies
Author(s) -
Hoggard Michael,
Douglas Richard G.,
Taylor Michael W.,
Biswas Kristi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international forum of allergy and rhinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.503
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 2042-6984
pISSN - 2042-6976
DOI - 10.1002/alr.22623
Subject(s) - medicine , biopsy , chronic rhinosinusitis , pathology , sampling (signal processing) , filter (signal processing) , computer science , computer vision
Background Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a spectrum of complex inflammatory conditions of the sinonasal mucosa. Identification of biomarkers that enable classification and improved delineation among CRS endotypes is of increasing interest. However, the extent to which less invasive sampling methods identify genuine tissue inflammatory patterns is not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate mucosal swab and cytobrush sampling as less invasive proxies for tissue transcription levels of putative biomarkers of CRS. Methods Expression levels of 21 biomarkers of interest were assessed via custom TaqMan array cards from mucosal biopsy, cytobrush, and swab samples, in 32 patients with CRS. Reported expression levels were compared between each of the 3 sample types within each patient. Results Reported transcription levels from swab samples for IL33 , MUC5AC , IL1RN , CXCL8 (IL‐8), TNF , IFNG , IL5 , OSM , IL1A , and IL17C , and cytobrush levels for IL33 , MUC5AC , IL5RA , IL1RN , CXCL8 (IL‐8), and IL5 were significantly different to tissue levels from matched biopsy samples. Conclusion Reported expression via swab and cytobrush sampling differed from patterns observed in matched tissue for 10 of 21 and 6 of 21 markers, respectively. Non–biopsy‐based studies for these particular markers may therefore not adequately represent tissue inflammatory processes and should be interpreted with caution. Cytobrush samples largely tracked tissue patterns for the remaining target biomarkers. In these cases, cytobrush sampling appears to adequately reflect tissue patterns for several putative biomarkers of CRS, supporting their use in clinical and research settings as a less‐invasive proxy for the assessment of mucosal tissue inflammatory transcription patterns.