Background: P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is a 170 kDa transmembrane efflux pump, which is upregulated in chronic rhinosinusitis. Studies of leukemia demonstrated that P-gp may also be secreted in an intact soluble form. The purpose of this study was to explore whether sinonasal epithelial cells were capable of secreting soluble P-gp and whether P-gp has any functional role.
Methods: Soluble and cytoplasmic P-gp were quantified in vehicle and lipopolysaccharide exposed cultures by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The molecular weight of the soluble P-gp was determined by Western blot. Naive cultures were exposed to recombinant human P-gp at 0-2000 ng/mL. The degree of membranous interpolation was determined by quantitative fluorescent immunocytochemistry and function was determined by a calcein acetoxymethyl ester assay.
Results: Soluble P-gp was secreted intact at 170 kDa. Mean (standard deviation) secretion was detected within vehicle wells at 55.43 ± 26.26 ng/mL, which significantly increased to 333.27 ± 305.98 ng/mL (p < 0.001) after lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Soluble P-gp strongly and significantly correlated with cytoplasmic P-gp (r = 0.57, p = 0.000001). Exposure to 2000 ng/mL of recombinant P-gp significantly increased corrected total cell fluorescence (1.34 ± 1.85) relative to vehicle control 0.29 ± 0.26 (p = 0.01) and significantly reduced calcein acetoxymethyl ester fluorescence (82.03 ± 43.69) relative to 100 ng/mL recombinant P-gp exposed cells (123.11 ± 42.16, p = 0.001).
Conclusion: Cultured sinonasal epithelial cells were able to both secrete intact P-gp and could functionally interpolate soluble P-gp into their cell membrane. These in vitro findings indicated that soluble P-gp may be present in nasal mucus as a biomarker and could participate in the maintenance of P-gp overexpression in chronic rhinosinusitis and associated inflammation.