Objective Sudden sensorineural hearing loss(SSNHL)is an acute sensorineural hearing loss,with poor treatment outcomes in some patients.Currently,there are no indicators to effectively predict treatment outcomes.5-hydroxymethylcytosine(5hmC)is a relatively stable epigenetic marker,which can be used as a biomarker for predicting therapeutic effects for its different enrichment levels in different physical states.This study aims to investigate the possi-bility of predicting the therapeutic effect using 5hmC markers in SSNHL.Methods SSNHL patients admitted to the De-partment of Otolaryngology,Head and Neck Surgery at Hainan Hospital of the PL A General Hospital from July 2021 to June 2023(n=57,26 males and 31 females)were categorized as treatment responders(n=27)and non-responders(n=30).The correlation between 5hmC enrichment levels and treatment outcomes was evaluated.Using the hmC-Seal tech-nique,the whole genome 5hmC spectrum was generated from the plasma EVsDNA.Potentially indicative 5hmC molec-ular markers were identified by comparison between the responders and non-responders,and their functions and trans-mission pathways were assessed using the GO analysis.Results A total of 11 5hmC markers were identified as poten-tially predictive of treatment outcomes(AUC=0.998).GO functional analysis indicated that regulating signaling path-ways were related to the pathogenesis of inner ear diseases.Conclusions Our findings suggest that the EVsDNA 5hmC can serve as an effective epigenetic biomarker as a minimally noninvasive treatment outcome predictor in SSNHL.
维普
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