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Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Influence on Prognosis of Autoimmune Hearing Loss
George Psillas1, Paris Binos2, Grigorios G Dimas3
11st Academic ENT Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA Hospital, 546 36 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Background:
To evaluate the effect of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) on hearing outcome in patients suffering from autoimmune hearing loss (AIHL).
Materials And Methods:
The diagnosis of AIHL was essentially based on clinical symptoms, such as recurrent, sudden, fluctuating, or quickly progressing (<12 months) sensorineural hearing loss (uni-/bilateral). The molecular typing of HLA alleles was achieved by using polymerase chain reaction procedures. Patients underwent a tapering schema of steroid treatment and audiometric features were recorded. A logistic regression model was used to identify which HLA typing alleles were statistically significant in patients' response to treatment.
Results:
Forty patients with AIHL were found to be carriers of HLA B27, B35, B51, C4, C7, and DRB1*04 alleles. No statistically significant influence of HLA B27, B35, B51, C4, C7, DRB1*04 HLA alleles typing was detected for the prognosis of AIHL. In these patients, the onset of AIHL was mainly progressive (53.8%), 29.2% of them had moderate hearing loss, and most of the cases had both bilateral hearing loss (62.5%) and downsloping audiogram (40%).
Conclusion:
The presence of HLA B27, B35, B51, C4, C7, and DRB1*04 alleles had no significant effect on a favorable outcome of AIHL. However, larger samples of patients are necessary in order to improve the knowledge about the HLA influence on the clinical course of AIHL.
