New Technology may Restore Age-Associated Hearing Loss

Major hurdle of age-related hearing loss may now be overcome through gene technology as per a study at the Northwestern University, published in Nature. Most of the outer hair cells are dead due to aging, cancer therapy drugs, antibiotics, or noises that ultimately result in hearing loss. Disabling hearing loss is known to affect 8.5% of US adults aged 55 to 64 years, 25% of those aged 65 to 74 and 50% of those who are 75 and older, as per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The Master Gene Switch

Although existing technology helps produce an artificial hair cell, it does not differentiate into an inner or outer cell, which provides different essential functions to produce hearing. A new study finally discovers the master gene switch (TBX2) that turns on ear hair cell development.

When the gene is expressed, the cell becomes an inner hair cell. When the gene is blocked, the cell becomes an outer hair cell.

“We can now figure out how to make specifically inner or outer hair cells and identify why the later are more prone to dying and cause deafness,” says lead study author Jaime Garcia-Anoveros at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The team further plans to reprogram the supporting cells, and provide them with structural support, into outer or inner hair cells.

Source-Medindia