Antibodies against inner ear proteins in the sera of patients with inner ear diseases

Sera from patients with various inner ear diseases, especially Meniere's disease, were investigated by Western blot against guinea pig inner ear preparations. Of 45 patients, 24 (53%) with various inner ear diseases had antibodies against inner ear proteins, compared with none of 10 (0%) in control subjects without inner ear diseases. Of the 10 proteins that showed a positive reaction with patient sera, the 28-kD band was unique in that it appeared only in the membranous fraction of the inner ear and was highly positive (28%) in reaction with Meniere's disease patient sera. The results in the present study with proteins extracted from guinea pig inner ears were consistent with our previous study with proteins from human inner ear. It suggests that the 28-kD protein may be a candidate for detecting autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED).