At present, the mechanism of immunity and allergy in OME pathogenesis is still controversial. Yellon et al. [11] first detected IL-1, IL-2, TNF-, INF-and IL-6 in middle ear exudate of children with chronic OME and found the incidence was 51%, 54%, 63%, 19% and 36%, respectively. Doyle W J [12] found that Ⅰ type such as allergy, Th2 cytokines and cell infiltration is likely to be the main cause of OME persist. Sobol et al. [13] found that Th2 cytokines IL-4, IL-5 and eosinophils were significantly higher than those with negative skin tests in the OME middle ear effusion with positive allergens.
Treg cell transcription factor is Foxp3, which mainly secretes cytokines such as TGF- and IL-10, and Treg cells participate in immune pathogenesis [14-16]. Th17 transcription factor is ROR T, mainly secreting IL-17A-F and IL-6 series cytokines, which plays a physiological role in allergic and autoimmune diseases. IL-17 levels were significantly increased in rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and other immune diseases [15-16]. We found increased level of Th17 and inflammatory factor IL - 6 and reduced Treg cells factor TGF – beta and IL - 10 in OME.
In addition, ROR T/Foxp3 equilibrium also determines the direction of initial T cell differentiation toward Th17 or Treg cells [17]. In this study, the expression of ROR T was increased in PC group and decreased in NC group. However, Foxp3 expression was decreased in PC group and increased in NC group. In OME model group in middle ear mucosa, ROR gamma t has a strong positive expression and Foxp3 expression has a weak positivity, suggesting ROR gamma t/Foxp3 imbalance, further illustrating the whole body and middle ear local Treg/th17 balance in the process of occurrence and development of OME. Like other autoimmune diseases, middle ear mucosa as an extension of the upper respiratory tract mucous membrane, membrane layer of epithelium contains a lot of mucus glands, middle ear mucosa by antigen stimulation and called out ditto mucous membrane, organs become immune activity. Middle ear effuents in patients with OME with allergenic factors do not clear normally and may not be caused by initial viral/bacterial infection, but by circulating mast cells, eosinophil, etc., migrating to the site of inflammation to act on them and trigger a programmed immune response - "local allergic immune response" - to allergen stimulation [18].
HE staining of OME animal models showed that middle ear mucosa local buoyed by allergen, middle ear mucosa thickening, local hyperemia, tissue edema, glands expansion, plasma cells, eosinophil gathering, and the upper and lower respiratory tract after the allergen stimulation have the same immune response, middle ear organs become an immune activity. Regarding this, in the experiment of animal model of peripheral blood flow OME cytology, OME were also found in the rat model of spleen lymphocytes with negative correlation Treg and Th17 cells, so we speculated that the body state of sensitization may be easy to stimulate the important factors that cause middle ear mucosa, among them, the IL - 6 is a motivating factor with many biological activities. In the absence of IL-6, TGF- induces FOXP3 expression, which binds to ROR T and blocks its function, leading to the transformation of naive T cells into Treg. However, in the presence of IL-6, it eliminates the inhibition of FOXP3 on ROR t, leading to the conversion of naive t cells into Th17 cells [19]. This explains, on the one hand, the increased levels of IL-6 in middle ear effusion and peripheral blood in OME patients.
There are more and more evidence that on allergy treatment applied to OME aspects, this is different from the traditional upper respiratory tract (nose, sinuses, nasopharyngeal), located at the side of the respiratory tract (eustachian tube and middle ear tympanic cavity) allergic inflammation and also there are links, such as OME and the relationship between the AR epidemiology, anatomy, immunization and pathophysiology [20]
In addition, we verified the presence of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in OME, which affects T cell differentiation. Mammalian Target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a highly conserved serine/THR kinase that is activated and participates in the regulation of T cell growth, proliferation and differentiation under the action of glucocorticoids, nutrients (glucose, fatty acids, etc.) and various stressors [21].
An increasing number of studies have found that mTOR plays an important role in the development of a variety of autoimmune diseases by breaking the Thl7 / Treg balance, such as Systemic Lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). In the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model, rapamycin was shown to inhibit Thl7 cell differentiation by blocking the mTOR/STAT3 signaling pathway [22].The Mtorc1 inhibitor rapamycin inhibits IL-17 and promotes Foxp3 expression, thereby selectively amplifying Treg cells and enhancing their stability and anti-inflammatory ability [23-24]. Compared with CON, OME middle ear mucosa had increased expression of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway marks, indicating activation of this signaling pathway, leading to inhibition of Treg cells differentiation and amplification, Treg/Th17 imbalance, and subsequent middle ear local immune response. However, the specific mechanism of Treg reduction in OME and its interaction with the TPI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway remains to be further studied. These results indicate that the activation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway may partially inhibit the differentiation of Tregs, thus changing the Thl7 / Treg ratio.
This study has some limitations because of ethical limitations in obtaining middle ear mucosa and spleen tissue in OME patients and healthy individuals. Therefore, we established the OME rat model to compensate for local tissue detection and T cell detection in the spleen.