ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuro-Otology
This article is part of the Research TopicSudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Current Insights into Etiology, Mechanisms, and Therapeutic AdvancesView all articles
Several proteins derived from serum exosomes are potential biomarkers for diagnosis and progression of sudden sensorineural hearing loss
Provisionally accepted
- 1The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
- 2Shenzhen Longgang Otolaryngology Hospital, Shenzhen, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: This study aims to compare the protein expression profiles of plasma-derived exosomes in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) and normal hearing control groups to identify exosome proteins that may be associated with SSNHL or serve as biomarkers for SSNHL. Methods: Researchers collected peripheral venous blood from SSNHL patients and healthy controls for exosome isolation. The isolated exosomes were identified through nanoparticle tracking analysis, transmission electron microscopy observation, and Western blotting, followed by total protein extraction for proteomic sequencing. Differential expression proteins (DEPs) were screened using the threshold criteria of P-value<0.05 and fold change (FC)>1.2, with subsequent functional analysis. Ultimately, four exosomal DEPs-RPS2, RPL19, ACO2, and APOE-were selected and validated using ELISA. Results: Researchers isolated exosomes from plasma and identified them through particle size analysis, morphological observation, and expression of exosome marker proteins. Comparative studies with healthy individuals revealed 363 DEPs in SSNHL. Additionally, 515 DEPs were identified in mild sudden deafness (MilSSNHL) and healthy controls, 982 in moderate cases (ModSSNHL) and healthy controls, and 1,161 in profound cases (ProSSNHL) and healthy controls. These proteins are involved in signaling pathways enriched by DEPs. Validation experiments demonstrated that the expression levels of these proteins consistently matched their sequencing results, ensuring high reliability. Furthermore, these candidate proteins show significant diagnostic potential for SSNHL. Conclusion: The four extracellular proteins identified in this study, including RPS2, RPL19, ACO2 and APOE, may be closely related to the occurrence and development of SSNHL or serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis and staging of SSNHL.
Keywords: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss, Exosomes, biomarkers, differentexpression proteins, receiver operating characteristic curve
Received: 06 Sep 2025; Accepted: 28 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Bai, Zhang, Zeng and Kong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xianhai Zeng, zxhklwx@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.