鼻息肉是一类异质性很大的黏膜慢性炎症，不同于西方白人以Th2细胞优势和广泛的嗜酸性粒细胞浸润为主，亚洲人群，包括中国，则发现嗜酸性息肉占少数，而多数为非嗜酸性息肉。我们的研究证实，国人中IL-5，IL-17和IFN-γ等主要细胞因子皆阴性者为一大类鼻息肉亚型，而IL-5+鼻息肉仅占约20%。鼻息肉的异质性导致其发病机制难以用一种方式进行解释。因此，从其基因调控的角度入手，深入研究其表观遗传学调控机制，有可能阐明鼻息肉炎症和组织重塑的发生发展机理。目前长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）已被证明在免疫反应和气道炎症中发挥着重要的作用，我们前期实验也证实lncRNA在不同类型鼻息肉中存在明显的差异表达。因此我们设想：鼻息肉中差异表达的lncRNA可能直接参与了鼻息肉炎症及组织重塑的调控。对其进行深入研究则有望揭示lncRNA在鼻息肉炎症及组织重塑中的表观调控机制，并为其治疗提供全新的切入点。

Nasal polyps are heterogeneous chronic inflammatory condition of the nasal mucosa. Unlike in Caucasians, where nasal polyps show Th2 dominance and extensive eosinophils infiltration, in Asian people, including Chinese, a majority of nasal polyps are non-eosinophilic rather than eosinophilic subtype. Our previous studies have proved that key cytokine (IL-5，IL-17 & IFN-γ, etc)-negative nasal polyps are a major subtype, while IL-5+ nasal polyps takes up only 20% of the nasal polyps. It is hard to define the pathogenesis of nasal polyps in a single way due to its heterogeneity. Therefore, study on the epigenetic regulatory mechanism of nasal polyps from the gene regulation point of view may be able to explain the mechanism of the inflammation and tissue remodeling in nasal polyps. Currently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proved to play an important role in immune response and airway inflammation. They are also demonstrated to be differently expressed with tissue and cell specificity in different nasal polyps in our preliminary stduy. Therefore, we suppose that the differently expressed lncRNAs may directly take part in the regulation of the inflammation and tissue remodeling in nasal polyps. Hopefully, the in-depth study on them may unveil the role of lncRNAs in the epigenetic regulation of the inflammation and tissue remodeling in nasal polyps, and provide a new breakthrough in the treatment of nasal polyps.