[A study of inner ear autoantibodies in patients with sensorineural hearing loss]

In order to identify the inner ear autoantibodies, sera from 277 patients with sensorineural hearing loss and/or vertigo were reacted with bovine inner ear antigen by the western blotting method. We examined the relationships between the rate of the inner ear autoantibodies and clinical symptoms, course, diagnosis, age and positive tests for antinuclear antibodies. The rate of the autoantibodies which reacted with the 68-kD protein determinant, however, tended to increase with the elevation of hearing threshold. These of autoantibodies also tended to have a high incidence in patients with a fluctuating hearing threshold. Antibody against the 68-kD protein was detected in serum from 64.3% of patients with progressive sensorineural hearing loss. These results indicate that autoimmunological mechanisms involving the 68-kD protein may be one of the causes of sensorineural hearing loss.