Background
Hearing is commonly impaired in Behçet’s disease (BD). Also, vestibular abnormalities as well as cochlear function affection have been found. The inflammatory process which leads to BD may be the cause of vestibular frequency audiometry abnormalities in those patients. The aim of this study is to assess hearing and vestibulo-colic reflex in Behçet patients using convential pure-tone audiometry (cPTA), high-frequency audiometry (HFA), and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP).
Results
This study included 25 patients with BD (group I), whose age ranged from 21 to 45 years, with a mean age of 34.24 ± 7.07 years. The control group (group II) comprised 20 normal adults whose ages are between 21 and 45 years, with a mean age of 30.8 ± 8.02 years. The measured cVEMP parameters which include the mean peak latency of P13 and the mean peak latency of N23 were statistically significantly different between the patients suffering from BD and the control groups. All BD patients had high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) starting from 4 up to 12.5 kHz. The mean thresholds of the audiometry were significantly higher in the diseased group.
Conclusion
cVEMP testing can be used for the evaluation of the vestibulo-colic reflex in BD patients. The occurrence of hearing loss especially in high-frequency regions is a common finding in patients suffering from BD, and a HFA may be a valuable tool in early exploration of hearing loss in patients with BD.
Behçet's disease is an autoimmune type of vasculitis presenting by attacks of oral, skin and genital ulcers, as well as ophthalmic disorders that cause blindness in 25% of affected patients. Circulating T regulatory cells suppress atypical autoimmune responses and help developing immune self-tolerance. An X chromosome encoded forkhead transcription factor (Foxp3) is essential for proper T reg cell development and function. Aim of the work; The aim of the study was to determine the correlation between T reg cell percentage of expression, Behçet's uveitis pathogenesis, and disease manifestations. Materials and Methods; Forty-four subjects were involved in this study: 15 subjects diagnosed with Behcet's uveitis (including a female) in addition to 29 healthy age and sex-matched controls. The percentage of CD25 and Foxp3 expression in peripheral blood CD4 + T-lymphocytes was determined by flowcytometry. X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were used to assess patients with suspected Behcet's arthritis. Results; Percentages of CD4 + CD25 − Foxp3 + and CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + T reg cell expression were higher in Behcet's uveitis patients compared to the controls without a significant difference. Conversely, CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 − T reg cell percentage was found to be higher in the controls than in Bechet's uveitis cases without a significant difference. However, the mean fluorescence intensity of Foxp3 factor necessary for Treg cell function was significantly higher in the control group compared to Behcet's uveitis cases (p = 0.02). Conclusions; Results of the current work indicate the protective role played by T reg cells (especially the Foxp3 + group) against Behcet's uveitis that could be used as a valuable prognostic marker.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.