Acquired Immunity in Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a prevalent disease that is associated with significant costs and quality of life impairments. Currently, patients are classified into subgroups based on clinical characteristics, most often the presence or absence of nasal polyps. However, despite medical and surgical treatment, many of these patients continue to have symptoms. Recent efforts have focused on gaining a more complete understanding of the inflammatory mechanisms that drive pathogenesis in CRS, and it is becoming clear that the inflammatory processes in CRS are quite complex. As our understanding of these complex phenotypes improves, it may become possible to classify patients into endotypes based on unique inflammatory patterns within the sinus mucosa. This information may also lead to the identification of appropriate targeted therapies for different endotypes. This review will discuss our current understanding of endotypes in CRS along with the unique adaptive immune responses that may contribute to these different endotypes and, finally, some potential targeted therapeutics for the next generation of CRS treatment strategies.