[Clinical application of enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in testing antibodies against cochlear tissues and nerve...

Fifty-two patients with idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss and 20 controls were examined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with cow cochlear antigen (CCAg) and cow cochlear nerve antigen (CCNAg). The antibody level against CCAg was 0.3811 +/- 0.743 in the control group and 0.9241 +/- 0.2408 in the experimental group (OD, x +/- 2s, P < 0.01). Compared with the x +/- 2s antibody level of the control group, the antibody level of 24 of 52 (46%) patients of the experimental group was positive. The antibody level against CCNAg was 0.2254 +/- 0.382 in the control group and 0.2331 +/- 0.656 in the experimental group (P > 0.05). Compared with the x +/- 2s antibody level of the control group, the antibody level of 6 of 52 patients (11.5%) of the experimental group was elevated. It is suggested that ELISA method can be used as quantitatively in the diagnosis of autoimmune inner ear diseases. Moreover, the serum antibodies against CCNAg detected in this experiment suggest that some of autoimmune inner diseases might be retrocochlear.