Objective: The role of allergy in the pathophysiology of otitis media with effusion (OME) remains unclear. We evaluated the role of allergy and the Th1/Th2 balance in OME patients.
Method: Middle ear fluid was collected from 46 OME patients who had a ventilating tube inserted, and expression of GATA3, T-bet, IL-4, and IFN-gamma mRNA was assessed by RT-PCR. Expression of transcription factors and cytokines was compared in patients with and without allergy.
Results: The levels of GATA3 and T-bet mRNA in effusion fluid correlated positively with the levels of IL-4 and IFN-gamma mRNA, respectively. However, the allergy and non-allergy groups showed no significant differences in expression of any of these transcription factors and cytokines. The T-bet:GATA3 ratio was higher in the non-allergy than in the allergy group, but the difference was not statistically significant.
Conclusion: Although we observed a significant positive correlation between GATA3 and IL-4 mRNA levels, we cannot conclude that OME with allergy is related to a Th-2 driven immune response.