Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is defined as an inflammatory disease of the nose and paranasal sinuses persisting for 12 weeks or longer characterized by at least two of the four main symptoms, one of which should be either nasal discharge or obstruction, and the other two facial pain or pressure and decreased sense of smell (Fokkens et al. 2020). CRS has the prevalence of around 10 % and is a major public health problem.
The pathobiological events of CRS are strongly related to genetic predisposition, which affects barrier immunity and interacts with bacterial colonization and viral infections (Fokkens et al 2020). These events may begin early in life (Toppila-Salmi et al 2020). GWAS-studies confirm the important role of Type 2 inflammatory pathways and airway mucosa in asthma, allergic rhinitis and CRS (Laulajainen-Hongisto et al. 2020). A GWAS-study in the Icelandic/English population has showed that a gain-of-function variant of ALOX15 gene) is associated with an increased risk of CRSwNP (Kristjansson et al. 2019).

Chair: Sanna Toppila Salmi
Secretary: Ludger Klimek