Circulating immune complexes in Meniere's disease.

Sixty-six patients with Meniere's disease were studied for possible general immunologic abnormalities. The disease was bilateral in 20 cases, causing active symptoms in 49. Thirty-six healthy control subjects were also studied. Immune activity was assessed by quantitative measurement of the circulating immune complexes, serum immunoglobulin assay, and acetate electrophoresis, and by an autoantibody screen to a battery of ten general tissue antigens. Thirty-six (54.5%) of the 66 patients with Meniere's disease were found to have significantly raised circulating immune complex levels compared with one (2.9%) of the 36 controls. A statistically significant increased incidence of autoantibodies was also found in the Meniere's group.