New regenerative therapy can reverse hearing loss

A treatment for the recovery of adutive loss is being developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States of America (USA).

This is a new method of regenerative therapy that stimulates the growth of hair cells inside the cochlea and has already shown promising results in the early stages of clinical trials. The therapeutic procedure is performed with a drug and does not require the use of external devices such as hearing aids or implants.

MIT's approach involves progenitor cells, which are capable of transforming into any other, like stem cells, the only difference being that they divide a limited number of times.

The team used the stem cells to grow hair cells, the sensory receptors of the auditory systems, which normally do not regenerate.

"When the human being is still in the womb, progenitor cells descended from stem cells generate so-called ciliates. The progenitor cells become inactive even before birth and never change into other cells," they explained.

Researchers say that the 15,000 or so hair cells that can be found in each ear die over time and never regenerate. Their degradation is caused by intense noise or certain treatments, such as chemotherapy, which can even lead to hearing loss.

The drug candidate developed by the researchers is designed to be injected into the ear in order to regenerate these cells within the cochlea.

Some participants noticed improvements after a single injection into the inner ear, and improvements in speech perpception were seen in three different clinical studies, according to MIT.

"Speech perception is the number one goal for improving hearing and what we need to hear from patients," said Chris Loose, co-founder and CEO of Frequency Therapeutics.

The company is currently recruiting 124 volunteers for a clinical trial. Preliminary results should be known early next year.

Share this article