Researchers move closer to gene therapy solution for hearing loss
Hearing loss affects about 430 million people worldwide, with those numbers expected to grow as populations age.
More than 90 percent of individuals affected have sensorineural hearing loss, caused by damage to the inner ear and the destruction of the hair cells responsible for relaying sounds to the brain.
Hair cells cannot be regenerated in mammals, including humans, because unlike other cells in the body, any remaining hair cells in the inner ear cannot divide and other inner ear cells cannot convert themselves into new hair cells. Species like fish, birds, and reptiles, however, possess this ability.
A research team led by Zheng-Yi Chen, an HMS associate professor of otolaryngology and associate scientist in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Mass Eye and Ear, reported creating a drug-like cocktail of different molecules that successfully regenerated hair cells in a mouse model by reprogramming a series of genetic pathways within the inner ear.
Scientists are examining different gene therapy and surgical methods, including an approach previously honed at Mass Eye and Ear, in which a different viral vector called an adeno-associated virus (AAV) was able to precisely and safely deliver gene therapy to the inner ear through a novel surgery.
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