Chronic Sinusitis Found To Be Fungal-Induced

Almost 100% of patients suffering from chronic sinusitis (CS) developed the syndrome as a result of a fungal-induced inflammation, reports a new study.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MD, USA) and more than 50 other sites across the United States conducted ongoing clinical trials in patients with severe CS patients. All patients had well-documented CS based on a history of the requisite symptoms, nasal endoscopy findings, and a computerized tomography (CT) scan demonstrating characteristic mucosal changes in the sinuses. All patients had nasal mucin collected; subsequently, these specimens were tested for eosinophilic major basic protein (eMBP)--a toxic protein released by inflammatory cells in response to fungi--by using a diagnostic tool called SinuTest (developed at the Mayo Clinic), which uses a small sample of mucus from the patient's nose and tests for eMBP presence.

Results in the first fifty specimens analyzed showed that all had been positive for eMBP; researchers at the Mayo Clinic had discovered that an omnipresent, normally harmless mold, Alternaria, colonizes in the mucus of the nose and sinus of virtually everybody. However, it was found that in patients with CS, this non-invasive mold elicits an eosinophilic inflammatory response characterized by the release of eMBP in the mucus, which then damages the mucosal epithelial lining of the nose and sinuses, leading to the inflammatory mucosal changes characteristic of CS.

The data were collected as part of ongoing pivotal Phase III clinical trial of SinuNase, an intranasal formulation of an antifungal amphotericin B 0.01% suspension being developed by Accentia Biopharmaceuticals (Tampa, FL, USA). SinuNase has recently been granted Fast Track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); the company is also in the process of commercializing SinuTest for the confirmation of CS.


Related Links:
Mayo Clinic
Accentia Biopharmaceuticals