NEWS: Researchers Find Out The Cause Of Immune Attacks Behind Hearing Loss

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Researchers Find Out The Cause Of Immune Attacks Behind Hearing Loss  

Researchers from University of Michigan had identified a protein that

triggered the antibodies in patients suffering from autoimmune

sensori-neural hearing loss or AISNHL.

In the August issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck

Surgery, researchers reports results from a study of 63 people with

rapidly progressing hearing loss in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana,

and 20 people with normal hearing. The patients were suspected of

having an autoimmune cause for their hearing loss, and all received

steroids, but they hadn’t been formally diagnosed.

The researchers found that more than half of the hearing-loss patients

had antibodies against a protein found in the inner ear, called IESCA

for inner-ear supporting cell antigen. This is a sign their immune

systems recognized it as foreign.

In all, 28 of the 63 patients experienced improvement in their hearing

after steroid treatment, and 35 did not. But the vast majority, 89

percent, of those who improved had a positive immunofluorescence test

for an antibody to IESCA, said the researchers. The results strongly

suggest that a direct test for antibodies could accurately predict

which patients will regain hearing with steroid treatment.

The new findings also may be important to people with systemic

autoimmune disorders such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. Such people

may be prone to losing all or part of their hearing due to an

overzealous autoimmune reaction. All eight-study participants who had

systemic autoimmune diseases showed signs of antibodies against IESCA.

Six of them regained hearing after steroid treatment.

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