Objective: Summarize and analyze the current research results of tinnitus-related genes, explore the potential links between the results of each study, and provide reference for subsequent studies.
Methods: Collect and sort out the research literature related to tinnitus genes included in PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform before December 31, 2019. Then the relevant contents of the literature were sorted out and summarized.
Results: Fifty-one articles were finally selected for analysis: 31 articles (60.8%) were classified as researches on animal models of tinnitus, and 20 (39.2%) as researches on tinnitus patients. Existing studies have shown that genes related to oxidative stress, inflammatory response, nerve excitation/inhibition, and nerve growth are differentially expressed in tinnitus patients or animal models, and have presented the potential links between genes or proteins in the occurrence and development of tinnitus.
Conclusion: The research on tinnitus-related genes is still in the exploratory stage, and further high-quality research evidence is needed.
Keywords: Gene; molecular pathway; review; tinnitus.