Differential chemokine expression patterns in tonsillar disease

Mandapathil, M.; H.Beier, U.; Graefe, H.; Kröger, B.; Hedderich, J.; Maune, S.; Meyer, J. E

In 1884, Waldeyer first described an annular arrangement of lymphatic tissue at the entrance of the aerodigestive tract, which he suggested plays an important part in the host immune system, including the palatine tonsils, pharyngeal tonsil, lingual tonsils and tubal tonsils 1 . Especially the palatine as well as pharyngeal tonsils are known to play a key role in the development of the human host defense due to their location, histologic anatomy and functional capacities 2 . These structures harbour numerous different types of tissues, including epithelium, lymphoid follicles, blood vessels and connective tissues 3 4 . The combination of these different tissues as well as their anatomic arrangement in crypts facilitates optimised exposure and processing of antigens, which aid in evoking effective immune responses 5 6 . The palatine as well as the pharyngeal tonsils are secondary lymphoid organs and an integral part of the mucosa associated lymphatic tissue complex 7 . Multiplication, differentiation and stimulation of B-lymphocytes represent one of their major functions and are essential in processing the specific immune response 8 . B-lymphocytes constitute more than 50% of the tonsillar lymphocyte population, in contrast to the blood and other lymphoid organs 9 10 . The induction of the tonsillar-specific immune responses involves several distinct processes where chemokines play an integral role [11] [12] [13] [14] . Chemokines are chemotactic cytokines, which can be classified into four subgroups depending on their arrangement of amino acids, namely CXC-, CC-, C-and CX 3 C-chemokines 15 16 . CXC-chemokines, like interleukin (IL)-8 and growth-regulated peptide -alpha (GRO-alpha), are responsible for chemotaxis of neutrophils, whereas CCchemokines, like eotaxin-1, eotaxin-2, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-3, MCP-4, and RANTES (Regulated upon Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed and Secreted), promote the attraction of lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils 17 . The presented work investigated the importance of different chemokines, i.e. IL-8, GRO-alpha, eotaxin-1, eotaxin-2, MCP-3, MCP-4 and RANTES in tonsillar inflammatory disease and tonsil hyperplasia.