Epidemiology and genetics of Meniere's disease

Abstract

Purpose of review This review discusses the recent developments on the understanding of epidemiology and genetics of Meniere's disease. Recent findings Meniere's disease has been shown to be associated with several comorbidities, such as migraine, anxiety, allergy and immune disorders. Recent studies have investigated the relationship between environmental factors and Meniere's disease such as air pollution, allergy, asthma, osteoporosis or atmospheric pressure, reporting specific comorbidities in East Asian population. The application of exome sequencing has enabled the identification of genes sharing rare missense variants in multiple families with Meniere's disease, including OTOG and TECTA and suggesting digenic inheritance in MYO7A. Moreover, knockdown of DTNA gene orthologue in Drosophila resulted in defective proprioception and auditory function. DTNA and FAM136A knockout mice have been studied as potential mouse models for Meniere's disease. Summary While it has attracted emerging attention in recent years, the study of Meniere's disease genetics is still at its early stage. More geographically and ethnically based human genome studies, and the development of cellular and animal models of Meniere's disease may help shed light on the molecular mechanisms of Meniere's disease and provide the potential for gene-specific therapies.

Mendelian randomization analysis does not reveal a causal association between migraine and Meniere’s disease

“…Its etiology and molecular pathophysiology are unknown. Endolymphatic hydrops(EH) has been one of the etiologic factors of MD ( 2 ). The group MD-dg (ES degeneration) and the group MD-hp (ES hypoplasia) expressed variable radiological features of the temporal bone, which indicated that the disease may have different endotypes to illustrate its phenotypes ( 3 ).…”