A decreased prevalence of group 2 innate lymphoid cells in blood is associated with good postoperative outcomes in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

OBJECTIVE: Due to the high postoperative recurrence rate in eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (eCRS) patients, there is a need for an index to predict the postoperative outcomes. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are important effector cells for type 2 immune responses in eosinophilic airway inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the prevalence of ILC2s in sinonasal tissues or in peripheral blood is associated with the postoperative outcome in CRS patients.

METHODS: Twelve patients with eCRS and ten patients with non-eCRS were recruited. We examined the ILC2 prevalence in sinonasal tissues and in peripheral blood before and after endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Pre- and postoperative blood eosinophil counts were also examined. Lund-Mackay computed tomography (LMK-CT) scores were used to evaluate the disease severities and the postoperative outcomes; cases with more than 50% improvement were categorized into the good outcome group, and cases with less than 50% improvement were categorized into the poor outcome group.

RESULTS: The ILC2 prevalence in sinonasal tissues was correlated with that in preoperative blood in eCRS and non-eCRS patients. The ILC2 prevalence in sinonasal tissues and in preoperative blood was not correlated with the pre- or postoperative LMK-CT scores. Postoperatively, the ILC2 prevalence in blood was decreased in eCRS and non-eCRS patients, and blood eosinophil count was also decreased in eCRS patients but not in non-eCRS patients. The ILC2 prevalence in postoperative blood was decreased in the good outcome group but not in the poor outcome group. Blood eosinophil counts were not decreased postoperatively in both good and poor outcome groups.

CONCLUSION: The decreased ILC2 prevalence in postoperative blood may be a predictive biomarker for evaluating postoperative outcomes in eCRS and non-eCRS patients.