The role of heat shock protein 70 and its autoantibody in experimental autoimmune inner ear disease]

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of antigen stimulation on induction of the heat shock protein 70(HSP70) in the guinea pig cochlea and to explore the role of HSP70 and its autoantibody in the pathogenesis and diagnosis of autoimmunize inner ear disease (AIED). METHODS: To establish the animal model of AIED, homologous crude inner ear antigen was used to immunize the guinea pig. The expression of HSP70 was detected by immunocytochemistry and the relative staining densities were quantified with a light microscope image analysis system. The autoantibodies against HSP71 in the plasma of animals were tested by Western blot using purified recombinant human HSP71 as antigen. RESULTS: HSP70 presented in the normal guinea pig cochlea at a lower level. After immunological challenge, the levels of HSP70 immunoreactivity in the immunized animals were significantly increased as compared with control animals. Optical densities of cochleae of immunized animals were significantly greater than those of animals in the control group (P < 0.01). Most of the immunized animals had developed autoantibodies against HSP71. The incidence of autoantibody in the experimental group was significantly different (P < 0.01) from the control group. CONCLUSION: Antigen stimulation could lead to an increase in the synthesis of HSP70 in the guinea pig cochlea. The detection of autoantibody against HSP71 might have significance in the diagnosis of AIED.