Sakowicz-Burkiewicz Monika, Kuczkowski Jerzy, Przybyła Tomasz, Grdeń Marzena, Starzyńska Anna, Pawełczyk Tadeusz
Department of Molecular Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland.
Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland.
Adv Clin Exp Med. 2017 Sep;26(6):961-966. doi: 10.17219/acem/68984.
Tympanosclerosis is a pathological process involving the middle ear. The hallmark of this disease is the formation of calcium deposits. In the submucosal layer, as well as in the right layer of the tympanic membrane, the calcium deposits result in a significant increase in the activity of fibroblasts and deposition of collagen fibers.
The aim of our study was to examine the expression level of genes encoding collagen type I, II, III and IV (COL1A1, COL2A1, COL3A1, COL4A1) and osteopontin (SPP1) in the tympanic membrane of patients with tympanosclerosis.
The total RNA was isolated from middle ear tissues with tympanosclerosis, received from 25 patients and from 19 normal tympanic membranes. The gene expression level was determined by real-time RT-PCR. The gene expression levels were correlated with clinical Tos classification of tympanosclerosis.
We observed that in the tympanic membrane of patients with tympanosclerosis, the expression of type I collagen is decreased, while the expression of type II and IV collagen and osteopontin is increased. Moreover, mRNA levels of the investigated genes strongly correlated with the clinical stages of tympanosclerosis.
The strong correlations between the expression of type I, II, IV collagen and osteopontin and the clinical stage of tympanosclerosis indicate the involvement of these proteins in excessive fibrosis and pathological remodeling of the tympanic membrane. In the future, a treatment aiming to modulate these gene expressions and/or regulation of the degradation of their protein products could be used as a new medical approach for patients with tympanosclerosis.
鼓室硬化是一种累及中耳的病理过程。该疾病的标志是钙沉积的形成。在粘膜下层以及鼓膜的固有层中，钙沉积导致成纤维细胞活性显著增加和胶原纤维沉积。
我们研究的目的是检测鼓室硬化患者鼓膜中编码I型、II型、III型和IV型胶原（COL1A1、COL2A1、COL3A1、COL4A1）以及骨桥蛋白（SPP1）的基因表达水平。
从25例鼓室硬化患者的中耳组织以及19例正常鼓膜中分离总RNA。通过实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）测定基因表达水平。基因表达水平与鼓室硬化的临床Tos分类相关。
我们观察到，在鼓室硬化患者的鼓膜中，I型胶原表达降低，而II型和IV型胶原以及骨桥蛋白的表达增加。此外，所研究基因的mRNA水平与鼓室硬化的临床分期密切相关。
I型、II型、IV型胶原和骨桥蛋白的表达与鼓室硬化临床分期之间的强相关性表明这些蛋白质参与了鼓膜的过度纤维化和病理重塑。未来，旨在调节这些基因表达和/或调控其蛋白质产物降解的治疗方法可作为鼓室硬化患者的一种新的医学治疗手段。
