Experimental autoimmune hearing loss is exacerbated in IL-10-deficient mice and reversed by IL-10 gene transfer.

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) has an important role in the homeostatic regulation of autoreactive T-cell repertoire. We hypothesized that endogenous IL-10 would regulate the severity of β-tubulin-induced experimental autoimmune hearing loss (EAHL) and that exogenous IL-10 would abrogate it. BALB/c wild-type (WT) and homozygous IL-10-deficient mice (IL-10(-/-)) underwent β-tubulin immunization to develop EAHL; some IL-10 mice with EAHL were administered IL-10 DNA at the peak of EAHL. Auditory brainstem responses were examined over time. EAHL developed progressively in both WT and IL-10(-/-) mice. However, the severity of hearing loss in the IL-10(-/-) mice was significantly greater than that in WT animals. Moreover, disease severity was associated with a significantly enhanced interferon-γ level and loss of hair cells in IL-10(-/-) mice. IL-10 administered to EAHL IL-10(-/-) mice promoted IL-10 expression. Consequently, hearing significantly improved by protecting hair cells in established EAHL. Importantly, IL-10 treatment suppressed proliferation of antigen-specific T-helper type 1 (Th1) cells, and the suppression can be attributed to inducing IL-10-secreting regulatory T cells that suppressed autoreactive T cells. We demonstrated that the lack of IL-10 exacerbated hearing loss, and the exogenous administration of IL-10 improved hearing. Mechanistically, our results indicate that IL-10 is capable of controlling autoimmune reaction severity by suppressing Th1-type proinflammatory responses and inducing IL-10-secreting regulatory T cells.