Transcriptomic differentiation of phenotypes in chronic rhinosinusitis and its implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms

Urbančič, Jure (author), Soklič, Tanja (author), Demšar Luzar, Ajda (author), Hočevar-Boltežar, Irena (author), Korošec, Peter (author), Rijavec, Matija (author)

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a multifaceted disease with variable clinical courses and outcomes. We aimed to determine CRS-associated nasal-tissue transcriptome in clinically well-characterized and phenotyped individuals, to gain a novel insight into the biological pathways of the disease. RNA-sequencing of tissue samples of patients with CRS with polyps (CRSwNP), without polyps (CRSsNP), and controls were performed. Characterization of differently expressed genes (DEGs) and functional and pathway analysis was undertaken. We identified 782 common CRS-associated nasal-tissue DEGs, while 375 and 328 DEGs were CRSwNP- and CRSsNP-specific, respectively. Common key DEGs were found to be involved in dendritic cell maturation, the neuroinflammation pathway, and the inhibition of the matrix metalloproteinases. Distinct CRSwNP-specific DEGs were involved in NF-kβ canonical pathways, Toll-like receptor signaling, HIF1α regulation, and the Th2 pathway. CRSsNP involved the NFAT pathway and changes in the calcium pathway. Our findings offer new insights into the common and distinct molecular mechanisms underlying CRSwNP and CRSsNP, providing further understanding of the complex pathophysiology of the CRS, with future research directions for novel treatment strategies.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sinusitis, sequence analysis, transcriptome
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: MF - Faculty of Medicine
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: 16 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 24, iss. 6, art. 5541
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-187754
• UDC: 616.21
• ISSN on article: 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms24065541
• COBISS.SI-ID: 145698819
• Publication date in RUL: 15.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of molecular sciences
• Shortened title: Int. j. mol. sci.
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1422-0067
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2779162

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: vnetje sinusov, analiza zaporedja, transkriptom

Projects

• Funder: UMC Ljubljana
• Funding programme: Research Fund
• Project number: 20190072