Gene Therapy May Repair Hearing

The generation of tomorrow prides itself on its IPods, CD players, and loud concerts, and it is because of this that the number of people who become hard of hearing is going to increase drastically as this generation ages. All these loud noises kill hair cells in the inner ear that are responsible for the conversion of sound into electrical signals, which can then be interpreted by the brain. The cells are unable to be replaced once neurosis has occurred.

A team from Oregon Health and Science University has found that gene therapy can be used to encourage other cells to become hair cells once the hair cells have been damaged. The key gene was Atoh1, the primary gene used for hair cell growth, which was inserted using a harmless virus as the vector. So far this work has only been tested successfully in mice and has not yet been tested in human clinical trials, but it does illustrate promise. Currently the only treatments for deafness on the market are cochlear transplants which work by skipping over the dead hair cells and instead stimulated the auditory nerve directly. Also mechanical devices can be implanted but this does not restore hearing to normal by any means, however it does enable the patient to hear sounds of some form. This form of gene therapy is still in its early stages and will not be available for a long while to come, but if this proves to be successful in the future at restoring hearing loss then this would be exciting news both to the worlds of gene therapy and those victimized by hearing loss.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7582640.stm

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/gene-therapy-fo.html


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