Prognostic impact of gene polymorphisms in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. (10th March 2017) - Kitoh, Ryosuke
Abstract: Objective: To investigate whether genetic polymorphisms (single-nucleotide polymorphism [SNPs]) have a prognostic influence on hearing recovery after standardized corticosteroid therapy. Methods: A total of 192 gene samples from idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) patients registered in the Intractable Inner Ear Disease Gene Bank were enrolled and, as the candidate genes, 16 SNPs from 13 genes were selected for this study. Fischer's exact test was used to compare allele frequencies in each SNP between the patients with good hearing recovery and patients with poor hearing recovery. Results: The SNPs of the GSR gene (rs2251780 and rs3779647) and NOS3 gene (rs1799983) were associated with treatment outcome ( p < .05). Furthermore, there was a marginal correlation between the SNP of the NR3C1 gene (rs4912910) and treatment outcome ( p = .05). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the analysis of genetic factors might make it possible to predict the treatment outcome, at least in part, in patients with idiopathic SSNHL.