Role of Innate Immunity in Otitis Media / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

Otitis media (OM) is the most prevalent disease of childhood and a public health problem in developed and developing countries. Despite appropriate treatment, acute OM can progress to chronic suppurative OM, characterized by effusion and discharge. Moreover, OM lead to conductive hearing loss during critical periods of language acquisition and risking permanent damage to the middle ear and inner ear in severe cases. The reasons for the chronicity of middle ear disease in 10 to 20% children are not clear. However, although many factors can contribute to OM, bacterial infection is considered to be a predominant etiology, producting inflammation characterized by mucosal hyperplasia, effusion, and leukocytic infiltration of middle ear. In this review, we review the role of innate immunity as it applies to OM and deal with recent progresses in understanding the role of innate immune cell in the middle ear epithelium.