Periostin in middle ear mucosa according to eosinophilic otitis media severity: Middle ear pathology-based treatment.

OBJECTIVE

Eosinophilic otitis media (EOM) is an intractable disorder associated with bronchial asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis. Periostin is an extracellular matrix protein secreted by fibroblasts in response to interleukin (IL)-4 and/or IL-13 and is a known marker for eosinophilic disorders. We assessed serum periostin levels and expression of periostin in the middle ear mucosa according to three grade of EOM severity (grade1 to 3).

METHODS

68 patients of blood and serum samples were corrected by whom diagnose bilateral EOM in Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center from January 2015 to June 2017.Immunohistochemical evaluation was performed to 18 EOM middle ears mucosa samples, which cauterized in tree groups and compared to that of chronic otitis media (COM).

RESULTS

Serum periostin levels was significantly higher in EOM patients than in COM patients (EOM, 125.0 ± 45.5 ng/mL; COM, 79.4 ± 38.3 ng/mL; P<0.0001). The expression of periostin immunopositivity in the EOM middle ear mucosa was significantly greater in severe cases (grade3 samples) than others (grade1 and grade2 samples) (P <0.001 and P = 0.011, respectively). Periostin was expressed at the lamina propria especially in severe EOM cases and the cases had little response to glucocorticoids treatment.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that periostin in the middle ear mucosa was correlated with EOM severity, and EOM with highly expressed periostin had difficulty in glucocorticoids treatment.