Validation of bronchial airway gene expression associated with bronchiectasis in nasal epithelium

GSEA and cell-type specific gene expression signatures were used to examine changes in the cellular composition of nasal epithelium associated with radiologic BE. Results: Genes previously found to have significantly altered expression in bronchial epithelium in radiologic BE are concordantly enriched among the genes most increased or decreased in nasal epithelium in radiologic BE in this validation set (p = 3x10-7, increased; p = 6x10-8, decreased).

GSEA performed using cell-type signatures demonstrates that in nasal epithelium, BE is associated with increased multiciliated and deuterosomal cell-related gene expression and decreased expression of basal cell-related gene expression, consistent with our previous findings in bronchial epithelium. Conclusion: Our work validates our bronchial signature of BE in an independent dataset and demonstrates that similar gene expression changes are associated with radiologic BE in the bronchial and nasal epithelium.

These findings support considering nasal epithelium brushing as a less invasive tool for screening and monitoring BE.