Autoimmune inner ear disease in children.

Objective: To determine the response to treatment of pediatric patients diagnosed with autoimmune inner ear disease.

Patients: Seven children who presented with sensorineural hearing loss and were diagnosed with autoimmune inner ear disease.

Intervention: Diagnosis through blood testing.

Antibody-mediated Hsp70 protein therapy.

Intracellular Hsp70 provides cytoprotection against a variety of stressful stimuli, and an effective means of increasing intracellular Hsp70 levels could prove beneficial in the prevention and treatment of a variety of human diseases. A novel protein transduction domain consisting of the single chain Fv fragment of an anti-DNA antibody known to penetrate into living cells and tissues, mAb 3E10, has recently been used to deliver functional proteins to cells. The ability of the single chain Fv fragment to deliver Hsp70 into living cells was tested by generating an Fv-Hsp70 fusion protein.