title: Biological correlates of tinnitus-related distress: an exploratory study.
abstract: During the process of tinnitus diagnostics, various psychometric instruments are used to measure tinnitus-related distress. The aim of present work was to explore whether candidates for biological correlates of the tinnitus-related distress could be found in peripheral blood of patients and if so, whether there was association between them and psychometric scores that reflect tinnitus-related distress. The concentrations of interleukin-1β (IL1β), interleukin-6 (IL6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and a brain-derived neutrotrophic factor (BDNF) were measured in serum of 30 patients diagnosed with chronic tinnitus and tested for correlation with psychometric scores collected on the same day. Spearman's correlation analyses detected significant positive association between the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor α and tinnitus loudness, total perceived stress, tension and depression and a negative association between tumor necrosis factor α and a psychometric score "joy". Concentrations of interleukin-1β correlated with the awareness grade of tinnitus. The correlation between visual analogue scale (VAS) "loudness" and tumor necrosis factor α as well as between "joy" and tumor necrosis factor α retained their significance (p < 0.00167) after the application of Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Partial correlations removing the effects of age, hearing loss and the duration of tinnitus verified the results obtained using Spearman correlation. We conclude that measuring the concentrations of selected circulating cytokines could possibly become an additional objective element of tinnitus diagnostics in the future.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Laboratory, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Agnieszka J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Szczepek
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Laboratory, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany; Tinnitus Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Heidemarie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haupt
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Burghard F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Klapp
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Laboratory, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte and Campus Charité Virchow, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Olze
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Laboratory, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany; Tinnitus Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: birgit.mazurek@charite.de.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazurek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha