To define further the character of
autoantibodies against the inner ear in patients with
inner ear disease,
Autoantibodies in sera from 82 patients with
inner ear disease were investigated by immunoblotting. The inner ear
antigens were extracted from Hartley guinea pigs. Brain, kidney, lung, heart and
liver extracts were also prepared.
Antibodies against the inner ear were found in 32 of 82 (39%) patients with
inner ear disease. These sera reacted with the 30 and 58 kDa bands of the inner ear extracts. The 30 kDa band was detected in sera from patients with various
inner ear diseases, while the 58 kDa band reacted with sera of patients with idiopathic progressive
sensorineural hearing loss. Only two of the 52 normal control sera had a very faint band at 30 kDa. Sixteen of 32 positive sera were then used to probe Western blots of the brain, kidney, lung heart and
liver extracts. The 58 kDa band was also found in the
protein extracts of the brain, the lung, and the liver. On the other hand, preliminary purification of the 30 and 58 kDa
proteins from the inner ear extracts were achieved by
anion exchange chromatography. These results show that
antibodies in sera from patients with
inner ear disease reacted with at least two
polypeptide bands (30 and 58 kDa) of guinea pig inner ear extracts, and the 58 kDa antigenic
epitope was not cochlea specific.