B cells and upper airway disease: allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps evaluated

Allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polips (CRSwP) are upper airway immunological conditions with complex mechanisms of action. Airway local mucosal B cells are drivers for the conditions, with B cells migrating into the airway mucosa when there is an airway injury.

B-cells are very important in the defense, tissue surveillance, and immune modulation of the upper airways. Allergic rhinitis and CRSwP are two of the upper airway conditions that can be identified as expressing B-cells or dysregulating their function within T2-high mucosal inflammatory states. B cells can drive T2 inflammatory states via functional antibody production and also through interactions with commensal microbes and other recruited inflammatory cells such as Th2 cells and eosinophils, leading to immune amplification and dysregulation.

This review aimed to report the existing knowledge of the key role of B cells in allergic inflammatory upper airway disease and highlight the need for more focus on human B-cell-directed disease-context-specific upper airway studies.

The authors concluded that there is a lack of studies concerning the role of B-cell overexpression and dysfunction, especially those which relate sinonasal infection and mucosal inflammation. It is important to understand how respiratory inflammation, together with augmented or impaired B-cell function, increases and dysregulates immune signaling pathways in allergic rhinitis and CRSwP to develop novel B-cell disease-specific therapeutic interventions with molecular manipulation.