Nasal polyposis: in search of a viral etiology using DNA hybridization.

The etiology of nasal polyps is unknown. Numerous theories have been proposed, with allergic and infectious causes predominant. A viral theory was postulated almost 40 years ago. In a pilot project, we studied 15 subjects comprising six controls and nine patients with nasal polyps. No known viruses were cultured from the nasal polyp tissue or nasal mucosal biopsies from the control subjects. DNA Hybridization for Epstein-Barr Virus, Herpes simplex virus, adenovirus type V, and Chlamydia trachomatis were also negative for all tissue studied. The use of molecular biological techniques is not widespread in otolaryngology and this is the first report, to the best of our knowledge, of the application of these techniques for the investigation of the viral etiology of nasal polyps.