title: Evaluation of anti-hsp70 antibody screening in sudden deafness.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the diagnostic utility of anti-hsp70 antibody screening in sudden deafness.
  
  
  METHODS
  era from 27 patients with sudden deafness and 100 healthy blood donors were analyzed by Western blotting (WB) for the presence of antibodies against 68 kD heat shock protein (anti-hsp70).
  
  
  RESULTS
  19% of the patient sera and 14% of the control sera turned out positive, which was not significantly different.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The anti-hsp70 WB test lacks clinical utility for diagnostic screening in patients with sudden deafness.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna-Karin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Samuelsson
authors.forename: Dag
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hydén
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roberg
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Skogh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005260:Female; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D003639:Hearing Loss, Sudden / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins