Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.,
Volume 157, Number 3, March 1998, 899-906
Intranasal Beclomethasone Reduces Allergen-induced
Symptoms and Superficial Mucosal Eosinophilia without
Affecting Submucosal Inflammation
FUAD M.
BAROODY,
PHILLIP
ROUADI,
PETER V.
DRISCOLL,
BRUCE S.
BOCHNER,
and
ROBERT M.
NACLERIO
Section of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; and the Department of Medicine
(Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology) at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Previous investigations have suggested that nasal secretions, obtained by lavage or scraping, and the
nasal submucosa, sampled by biopsy, are two distinct compartments. We investigated the effect of
intranasal corticosteroids on antigen-induced eosinophil influx into both compartments. We performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 15 patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Beclomethasone dipropionate, 84 µg twice a day, was delivered to one nostril while the other nostril received placebo for 1 wk. Subjects were then challenged with grass or ragweed extracts on each
inferior turbinate. Nasal scrapings from both inferior turbinates were obtained before and 24 h after
challenge, and bilateral inferior turbinate biopsies were obtained 24 h after challenge, with the subjects still receiving treatment. Intranasal steroids led to a significant reduction in sneezes and eosinophil influx in nasal secretions without affecting the number of eosinophils in the submucosa. Furthermore, intranasal steroids had no effect on the numbers of submucosal EG2+ (activated eosinophils)
or CD25+ (IL-2-receptor-bearing) cells, nor did they decrease the endothelial expression of vascular
cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1). These data show that pretreatment with intranasal steroids successfully inhibited the clinical response to allergen and reduced eosinophils in the superficial compartment of the nasal mucosa, but it had no effect on inflammation in the deeper compartment. This
might be related to a different distribution of the active medication and antigen into the nasal mucosa or to a specific effect of the active medication on the epithelium resulting in inhibited migration of eosinophils across this layer.