Comparison of Autophagy mRNA Expression between Chronic Otitis Media With and Without Cholesteatoma

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Autophagy is known to be associated with pathogen infection. However, the expression of autophagy-related proteins has not been studied in chronic otitis media without cholesteatoma (COM) or with cholesteatoma (CholeOM). This study aimed to determine whether there is a difference between COM and CholeOM in autophagy-related gene mRNA expression. Subjects and Methods: For 47 patients with chronic otitis media, the inflammatory tissues were classified into granulation tissue (COM) or cholesteatoma (CholeOM) according to biopsy results. Results: <i>PI3K</i> mRNA expression (COM vs. CholeOM, mean±SD, 0.009±0.010 vs. 0.003±0.004; <i>p</i>=0.004) was lower, whereas <i>Beclin-1</i> mRNA expression (0.089±0.107 vs. 0.176±0.163; <i>p</i>=0.034) was higher in the CholeOM group. Expression of <i>PI3K</i> mRNA in the CholeOM group was lower than that in the COM subgroups with presence of bacteria (0.022±0.019 vs. 0.001±0.001; <i>p</i>=0.001), otorrhea (0.049±0.068 vs. 0.003±0.004; <i>p</i>=0.004), and hearing loss over 40 dB (0.083±0.130 vs. 0.003±0.004; <i>p</i>=0.005). Conclusions: The data suggested that different autophagy proteins play important roles in chronic otitis media according to the presence or absence of cholesteatoma.