Analysis of Serum Inflammatory Markers in Infants Under 6 Months of Age with Non- Syndromic Moderate and Severe Hearing Loss Associated with GJB2 Gene Mutations

Background: The G182 gene is reported to be the main hereditary factor responsible for non-syndromic hearing impairment in infants. Several kinds of hearing loss have been linked to elevated inflammatory markers. This study aimed to evaluate serum levels of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, a-TNF, and g-IFN and the severity of hearing loss.Material/Methods: Ninety newborns were divided into 3 groups: severe hearing impairment (31 infants), moderate hearing impair-ment (30 infants), and normal hearing (29 infants). Hearing screening was performed using otoacoustic emis-sions test. Mutations of the G182 gene were detected with Sanger sequencing. The patients had DNFB1 mu-tation. Seven blood inflammatory markers were tested using Cytometric Bead Array. We performed the t test to examine differences in expression of 7 inflammatory markers between sexes in the groups. The correlation between indicators within groups was studied using the Pearson correlation test. Correlation of different indi-cators among groups was studied using the Spearman correlation test.Results: When compared among the 3 groups (severe, moderate hearing impairment, and normal hearing group), we found that IL-10 had a positive correlation with the severity of G182-associated hearing loss, which was statis-tically significant (P<0.05).Conclusions: This research aimed to assess the relationship of 7 serum inflammatory markers with G182-associated hear-ing loss in infants. Inflammatory marker IL-10 had a positive correlation with the severity of G182-associated infant hearing loss, and it might have the potential to become a future therapeutic target.