Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan 1;46(1):88-95.
doi: 10.1097/MAO.0000000000004372. Epub 2024 Nov 20.

Proinflammatory Cytokine Profiles in Menière's Disease and Vestibular Migraine

Neil P Monaghan, Sunny Shah, Brian A Keith, Shaun A Nguyen  1 , Danforth A Newton  2 , John E Baatz  2 , Carol L Wagner  2 , Habib G Rizk  1
Affiliations

Proinflammatory Cytokine Profiles in Menière's Disease and Vestibular Migraine

Neil P Monaghan et al. Otol Neurotol. .

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the levels of inflammatory cytokines and symptom survey scores in patients diagnosed with Menière's disease or vestibular migraine from a single center by a single neurotologist compared to control subjects with no history of dizziness or migraine.

Study design: Cross-sectional pilot study.

Setting: Single-center tertiary referral center in Charleston, SC.

Patients: Patients were recruited from the neurotology clinic at a tertiary referral center. Patients with definite Menière's disease or definite vestibular migraine as defined by the Barany consensus criteria were eligible. Control subjects presented to clinic without dizziness, vertigo, fluctuating hearing loss, or a history of migraine.

Main outcome measures: Questionnaire scores include DHI, SF-20, CFQ, PHQ-9, PSWQ, GAD-7, NVI, DCS, VM-PATHI, and MD-POSI. Circulating and in vitro levels of cytokines include ENA-78, GROα, IFN-α2a, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-1RA, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, MCP-2, MDC, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and TNF-α. Cytokine levels were compared with effect size analysis.

Results: There were 20 Menière's disease, 20 vestibular migraine, and 10 control patients enrolled in this study. Episode frequencies ranged from three per week to two to five per year in the MD group and daily to 1 every 2 to 3 months in the VM group. When patient-derived PBMC samples were compared to vestibular migraine, TNF-α ( d = -0.427 [-0.879, 0.025]) and IFN-γ ( d = -0.818 [-1.313, -0.323]) were found to be higher in Menière's disease, whereas ENA-78 ( d = -0.652 [-1.361, 0.056]) was found to be lower. No differences were found when cytokines were measured following stimulation with LPS.

Conclusions: This pilot study suggests Menière's disease patients may have higher levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ and lower levels of ENA-78 than vestibular migraine patients when measured following in vitro release from patient-derived PBMC. Increased sample size, optimized blood draw timing, and more specific PBMC stimulation may help us further elucidate inflammatory pathways implicated in these disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: The authors disclose no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Lempert T, Olesen J, Furman J, et al. Vestibular migraine: Diagnostic criteria. J Vestib Res 2022;32:1–6.
    1. Dieterich M, Obermann M, Celebisoy N. Vestibular migraine: The most frequent entity of episodic vertigo. J Neurol 2016;263(Suppl 1):S82–9.
    1. Xu W, Li X, Song Y, et al. Meniere's disease and allergy: Epidemiology, pathogenesis, and therapy. Clin Exp Med 2023;23:3361–71.
    1. Alexander TH, Harris JP. Current epidemiology of Meniere's syndrome. Otolaryngol Clin North Am 2010;43:965–70.
    1. Liu YF, Xu H. The intimate relationship between vestibular migraine and Meniere disease: A review of pathogenesis and presentation. Behav Neurol 2016;2016:3182735.