Exploring associations between nasal fluid inflammatory proteins and patient-reported symptom burden in respiratory disease.

Publication/Presentation Date

1-1-2026

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Patient-reported outcome measures are widely used to assess symptom burden in respiratory disease, yet the extent to which symptom severity reflects underlying mucosal biology remains incompletely understood. Nasal fluid provides a non-invasive matrix for assessing airway inflammation within the unified airway framework.

METHODS: In this exploratory study, nasal fluid samples were collected from 30 participants with heterogeneous respiratory conditions, and protein concentrations were measured using a multiplex immunoassay. Associations between protein concentrations and symptom burden, measured using the 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22), were assessed using Spearman correlations.

RESULTS: Protein concentrations of 40 analytes were measured and were found to span a wide dynamic range across participants. The mean SNOT-22 score was 39.1 (range, 3-89). TRAIL and CXCL10 demonstrated positive correlations with SNOT-22 scores (rho = 0.563,

DISCUSSION: These findings demonstrate the feasibility of linking non-invasive nasal fluid biomarkers with composite symptom scores in a heterogeneous respiratory cohort. Together, they support the potential of nasal fluid profiling to capture clinically relevant biological variation and inform larger, multimodal studies integrating complementary clinical and physiological measures.

Volume

7

First Page

1902168

Last Page

1902168

ISSN

2673-6101

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

42591681

Department(s)

Department of Surgery

Document Type

Article

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