Association of JNK1 gene polymorphisms with hearing loss patients with otitis media

OBJECTIVE To explore the association of C-JUN N-terminal kinases (JNKs) gene polymorphisms with severity of hearing loss of the patients with otitis media. METHODS A total of 66 patients who were treated in department of otolaryngology of Wuhan University of Science and Technology Hospital due to infection-induced otitis media from Jan 2018 to May 2021 were recruited as the research subjects and were divided into the mild hearing loss group with 33 cases and the severe hearing loss group with 33 cases according to the median hearing threshold measured by audiometer. The gender, age, body mass index, pathogenic site and incidence of complications with tinnitus and dizziness were collected from the two groups of patients. The air conduction hearing threshold, bone conduction hearing threshold, air bone gap, eustachian tube dysfunction, tympanic lesions and ossicular chain lesions were detected for all of the patients. The sequence fragments of target genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS The frequencies of GG genotype and G allele at Rs9284 locus were significantly higher in the severe hearing loss group than in the mild hearing loss group (P<0.05); there were no significant differences in the frequencies of TT and TG genotypes at rs9284 locus and AA, AT, TT genotypes and A/T alleles at Rs11598320 locus between the two groups. The air conduction hearing threshold of the patients carrying with GG genotype at Rs9284 locus was higher than that of the patients carrying with TT/TG genotype, while the air bone gap of the patients carrying with GG genotype was significantly lower than that of the patients carrying with TT/TG genotype(P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the eustachian tube dysfunction, tympanic lesions and ossicular chain lesions between the two groups. CONCLUSION The patients who carry with GG genotype at rs9284 locus of JNK1 gene have more severe infection-induced healing loss and poorer audiological performance, and the screening of the locus may have certain significance for guiding the clinical intervention.