The role of TAS2R38 genotype in surgical outcomes and culturable bacteria in chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyps

Abstract

Background: Recent studies reported the relationship between genetic variations and TAS2R38, which is a bitter taste receptor expressed in the cilia of human sinonasal epithelial cells, among the predisposing factors playing role in immune response to upper respiratory tract bacterial infection. The present study aims to examine the relationship of TAS2R38 genotype with the active microorganism and the effect of genotype on the surgical outcomes among chronic rhinosinusitis patients. Methodology: 34 patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) for chronic rhinosinusitis with or without polyps (23 CRSwNP, 11 CRSsNP) and 30 patients undergoing septoplasty surgery for isolated nasal septum deviation were included. All the patients were genotyped for TAS2R38. Scoring was made using endoscopic Modified Lund-Kennedy and radiological Lund-Mackay systems preoperatively. Sino-Nasal Outcome Test with 22 items (SNOT-22) was implemented preoperatively and postoperatively. Nasal swab culture samples were taken intraoperatively from CRS patients and the active microorganism were isolated. Results: In the TAS2R38 genotyping of the study group, PAV/PAV was found in 32.4% of patients, PAV/AVI in 47.1%, and AVI/AVI in 20.6%. In the control group, PAV/PAV was found in 26.7%, PAV/AVI in 36.7%, and AVI/AVI in 36.7%. In the study group, there was no statistically significant difference between the CRS and CRS subgroups in terms of TAS2R38 genotype distributions. The changes in patients' preoperative and postoperative SNOT-22 scores were similar between the genotypes. Proliferation was detected in culture in the whole AVI-AVI group, 81.8% of PAV-PAV group, and 56.3% of PAV-AVI group but the difference was not found to be statistically significant. The proliferation level of Staphylococcus epidermidis by TAS2R38 genotype was found to be statistically significantly higher among patients, who had AVI-AVI genotype, in CRSwNP. Conclusions: We did not find a statistically significant relationship between the TAS2R38 genotype and CRS subtype, sinonasal bacterial infection risk increase and surgical success rate in CRS patients. Long-term and large-scale studies are needed, which are to be carried out by individual genotyping and sequencing to provide more information on the effects of these genetic variants.