[Association between single nucleotide polymorphismsin human heat shock protein 70 gene and susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss].

Objective: To investigate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at rs1043618, rs2075800, and rs2763979 in human heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene and susceptibility to noise - induced hearing loss (NIHL) . Methods: A case-control study was performed, and 5 934 workers exposed to noise in an iron and steel plant in Henan, China, who underwent physical examination from 2006 to 2015, were enrolled as study subjects. According to the criteria of binaural average high - frequency (3000, 4000, and 6000 Hz) hearing threshold≥40 dB (HL) and monauralaverage speech - frequency (500, 1000, 2000 Hz) hearing threshold≥26 dB (HL) on the basis of binauralhigh frequency loss measured by pure tone audiometry, as well as the exclusion of NIHL, a total of 286 workers were enrolled as hearing loss group; after the adjustment for sex, type of work, age (difference≤5 years) , and working years of noise exposure (difference ≤2 years) , 286 workers were enrolled as control group. A 2 ml blood genomic DNA extraction kit was used to perform DNA extraction for the peripheral blood samples, and a multiple SNP typing kit was used to determine the genotypes at the three loci in 572 samples. The association between the SNPs at the three loci and susceptibility to NIHL was analyzed. Results: In all workers, the equivalent sound level ( L (Aeq)) of noise was 75.0 ~ 96.8 dB (A) . The hearing loss group had a significantly higher binauralhigh - frequencyhearing threshold than the control group ( t =56.908, P <0.05) . With CC+TC genotype as control, TT genotype at rs2763979 in HSP70 gene was associated with the susceptibility to NIHL ( OR =1.731, 95% CI 1.021 - 2.935) . In the group with cumulative noise exposure of 96 dB (A) ·year, TT genotype at rs2763979was associated with the susceptibility to NIHL ( OR =5.694, 95% CI 1.256 - 25.817) . The rs1043618 and rs2075800 loci of HSP70 were not associated with the susceptibility to NIHL (both P >0.05) . After the adjustment for confounding factors including smoking and drinking, haplotype CCT was associated with the susceptibility to NIHL ( OR =1.425, 95% CI 1.035 - 1.961) . Conclusion: TT genotype at rs2763979 of HSP70 gene and haplotype CCT are risk factors for NIHL.