Cellular responses to Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin are associated with clinical outcomes in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps

Method Dispersed nasal polyp cells (DNPCs) and dispersed uncinate tissue cells (DUTCs) were prepared from patients with CRS with and without nasal polyps, respectively. Cells were incubated with various concentrations of alpha-toxin or staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) and then the levels of IL-5, IL-13, IFN-gamma, IL-17A, and IL-10 in the cell supernatants were determined. The effect of blocking the COX pathway and neutralizing HLA-DR and ICAM-1 was examined. The pathophysiological significance of alpha-toxin–induced cytokine production was also determined.