Interferon-γ production to inner ear antigens by T cells from patients with autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss

Robert R. Lorenz, C. Arturo Solares, Paul Williams, John Sikora, Clara M. Pelfrey, Gordon B. Hughes, Vincent K. Tuohy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Scopus citations

Abstract

Autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss (ASNHL) typically produces bilateral rapidly progressive loss of hearing over a few days or weeks, but may also produce sudden loss over a few hours. The diagnosis is made by excluding ototoxicity, systemic disease, and other factors that mimic ASNHL and by showing a therapeutic response to corticosteroid treatment. Antibody production and T-cell proliferative responses to inner ear antigens have been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of ASNHL. In the current study, we have extended these autoimmune investigations by determining the frequencies of inner ear specific IFN-γ producing T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from ASNHL patients and from age- and sex-matched control subjects. ELISPOT analysis showed that 25% of ASNHL patients have significant increased frequencies of inner ear specific IFN-γ producing T cells in their PBMC. All control subjects were relatively unresponsive. Our results implicate inner ear specific IFN-γ producing proinflammatory T cells in the pathogenesis of ASNHL.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)173-178
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Neuroimmunology
Volume130
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2002
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Autoimmunity
  • Cytokines
  • Deafness
  • ELISPOT
  • Sensorineural hearing loss
  • T Cell
  • Th1/Th2

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology
  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology

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