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Abstract
Previous studies have suggested that many human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A,-B,-C and -DR alleles are associated with Ménière's disease (MD), an inner ear disorder with a proposed autoimmune etiopathogenesis. Despite some discrepancies many reports are in agreement with a hypothesis suggesting an influence of serologically detected HLA-C products in the susceptibility to the disease. To confirm these data we investigated the distribution of HLA-A,-B,-C and-DR antigens that well define the HLA polymorphism using DNA typing. Furthermore, as autoimmune factors have been claimed to play a role in MD, we investigated the serum level of soluble HLA class I (sHLA-I). Molecular typing of HLA class I and II was performed using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers in 41 patients affected by MD, 34 patients affected by other inner ear diseases (OIDs) and 101 healthy subjects. An ELISA technique was employed to investigate the serum level of sHLA-I in 17 MD patients, 10 OID patients and 83 healthy subjects. The results showed a significantly increased frequency of the Cw*07 specificities in MD patients when compared to OID patients (63.4% vs 32.3%; p =6.9 2 10 -3 ; relative risk [RR]=3.6) and healthy subjects (63.4% vs 35.6%; p =2.28 2 10 -3 ; RR =3.1). The sHLA-I concentrations detected in sera did not differ significantly between MD patients (616 - 271 ng/ml), OID patients (570 - 307 ng/ml) and healthy subjects (518 - 340 ng/ml).