Losartan Helps Reduce the Risk of Hearing Loss Among Vestibular Schwannoma Patients

Losartan, a popular medication used to treat hypertension, could improve hearing in patients who developed hearing loss due to vestibular schwannoma (VS). Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Massachusetts Eye and Ear have reported this new finding in the journal Science Translational Medicine .

"Developing effective therapeutics to preserve hearing function in patients with NF2 is an urgent unmet medical need. The greatest barrier to managing NF2-related auditory impairment is our incomplete understanding of how schwannomas cause hearing loss," says co-senior author Lei Xu, MD, Ph.D., an investigator in the Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology within the MGH Department of Radiation Oncology.

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‘The inflammatory phase that occurs due to Vestibular schwannoma (VS) causes hearing loss by directly damaging cochlear cells. People who took losartan or other drugs in its class were less likely to experience hearing loss by this cause than those who took other blood pressure medications.’

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Vestibular schwannoma (VS) is a type of non-cancerous tumor that develops on the main nerve leading from the inner ear to the brain. Approximately one out of every 100,000 individuals per year develop a vestibular schwannoma.

One of the important risk factors for this condition is the rare genetic disorder neurofibromatosis type 2. Studies showed that hearing loss is particularly prominent among patients who have vestibular schwannoma associated with this genetic disorder due to the formation of fibrous tissues in the VS tumor microenvironment.

Xu and her team used a mouse model and studied the effects of losartan on vestibular schwannomas and the brain. The medication seemed to reduce inflammation and prevent hearing loss in the animal models.

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To translate these findings into the clinic, Dr.Konstantina Stankovic, Bertarelli Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, studied some patient samples and data.

Her analysis proved that the inflammatory phase causes hearing loss by directly damaging cochlear cells associated with hearing. She also found that vestibular schwannoma people who took losartan or other drugs in its class were less likely to experience hearing loss than those who took other blood pressure medications.

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"As one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for hypertension, the safety and low cost of losartan warrants rapid translation of our research to patients with vestibular schwannomas to try to prevent tumor-induced sensorineural hearing loss," highlighted co-author Stankovic.

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Source-Medindia