[Class I HLA antigens in patients with sensorineural hearing loss: preliminary report]

The frequency of class I HLA antigens of 36 sensorineal hearing loss patients with bilateral, progressive and sudden deafness were analyzed. It was found that HLA-B41 and HLA-Cw7 were more frequent than in 1152 control population (Chi2= 1656 and 14.45 respectively). The differences were highly significant (p < 0.001) The homozygosity of HLA-Cw/Cw7 in examined patients was also statistically different in comparison with 616 healthy individuals (p < 0.025). Determination of soluble form class I HLA antigens (s-HLA-I) in semiquantitative method according to Tait et al. (1981) and McLean et al. (1983) was performed. In 24 of sera SNHL patients and in 126 healthy persons the level of sHLA-Cw7 was examined. The preliminary results show that distribution of soluble Cw7 antigen in patients sera and healthy controls were significantly decreased in cases of SNHL (Ch2 = 28.23; p < 0.0001). The authors suggest an existing relationship between SNHL and sHLA-Cw7, Further study may resolve this relation and possibilities of monitoring sHLA-Cw7 during therapy and course of this disease.