ANTIGEN NONSPECIFIC IMMUNOLOGICAL TESTS IN PROGRESSIVE SENSORINEURAL HEARING-LOSS

The purpose of the present study was to determine the validity of anti gen non-specific immunological tests in order to develop a risk-clinic al profile of patients with immune-mediated inner ear pathology. The s tudy was carried out on 38 patients with progressive sensorineural hea ring loss and a control group of 26 subjects. Serological testing was used to determine cell activation complexes. In patients with hearing loss, T-lymphocyte subpopulations were found to have an increase in cy totoxic T-cells when compared to T-helper, but only for interleukin-2 receptor expression. This difference was significant between patients and the control group. Present findings suggest that T-lymphocyte ''ea rly'' marker is of particular interest for developing a risk-clinical profile of patients with sensorineural progressive hearing loss of imm une origin.