Influence of the mucosal environment on the regulation of the local immune response in health and allergic disease

In this thesis we explore the potential impact of the complexity of the environment on the responses triggered in the local nasal mucosa and we also explore if the observation that different allergic sensitizations affect the clinical response of these individuals, in some way is reflected in the cellular make-up of local tissues.
Given the importance of nasal epithelial cells as an interactive interface with the outside (microbial) environment and their contribution to the regulation of local immune responses we have established the expression profile and functionality of the Toll-like receptor family members in these cells and investigated the functional cross talks between the different toll-like receptors on nasal epithelial cells. We also showed that the disease state affects the functionality of TLR signalling in epithelial cells isolated from nasal polyps. Downstream of the nasal epithelial cells also the composition of the influx of specialized dendritic cells to the nasal mucosa seems affected by the allergic state and the influx of dendritic cell subtypes in these disease states was different for the nasal and the oral mucosa.