TY - JOUR T1 - Changes of Glucocorticoid Receptor Expression in the Nasal Polyps of Patients with Chronic Sinusitis Following Treatment with Glucocorticoid JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 37 LP - 42 VL - 22 IS - 1 AU - SO WATANABE AU - HARUMI SUZAKI Y1 - 2008/01/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/22/1/37.abstract N2 - Glucocorticoids (GCs) bind to the cellular glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) to exert anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive actions. We investigated the changes in the expressions of the two GR isoforms, GR-α and GR-β, in nasal polyps treated with GC. Immunofluorescent staining revealed prominent expression of GR-α in the inflammatory cell infiltrate in the polyps obtained from patients with chronic sinusitis and bronchial asthma. Furthermore, while the expression of GR-α was significantly reduced following GC treatment, that of GR-β remained unchanged. The results of real-time PCR also revealed that the prominent expression of GR-α mRNA in the polyps decreased following GC treatment, while the expression of GR-β mRNA remained unchanged. The observations indicate that GR-α may play the major role in the inflammation associated with nasal polyps and the ratio of the expression level of GR-β to that of GR-α may serve as a useful index of the clinical efficacy of GC treatment. Copyright © 2008 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved ER -