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Updated: Jul 17, 2026
Intra-tracheal Administration of Haemophilus influenzae in Mouse Models to Study Airway Inflammation
Published on: March 2, 2016
17β-estradiol Attenuates the Middle Ear Inflammatory Response to Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae
Pawjai Khampang1, Tina L Samuels1, Simon Blaine-Sauer1
1Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Objectives:
17β-estradiol (E2) is a steroidal hormone with immunomodulatory functions that play a role in infectious and inflammatory diseases. E2 was recently identified as the leading upstream regulator of differentially expressed genes in a comparative RNA sequencing study of pediatric patients with otitis media (OM) versus OM-free counterparts and may therefore play a role in the inflammatory response to bacterial otopathogens during pediatric OM. This study examined the effect of E2 on bacterial-induced inflammatory cytokine expression in an in vitro pediatric OM model.
Methods:
An immortalized middle ear (ME) epithelial cell line, ROM-SV40, was developed from a pediatric recurrent OM patient. The culture was exposed to E2 at physiological levels for 1-48 h prior to 6 h-stimulation with nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) whole cell lysate. TNFA, IL1B, IL6, and IL8 were assayed by qPCR and ELISA.
Results:
E2 pretreatment (24 h) abrogated NTHi induction of IL6; a longer pretreatment (1-10 nM, 48 h) abrogated IL1B induction (p < 0.05). E2 pretreatment (5 nM, 48 h) abrogated NTHi-induced IL8 secretion (p = 0.017).
Conclusion:
E2 pretreatment partially rescued NTHi-induced cytokine production by ME epithelia. These data support a role for E2 in moderating the excessive inflammatory response to middle ear infection that contributes to OM pathophysiology.
Levels Of Evidence:
NA Laryngoscope, 134:3815-3819, 2024.
