Dream Team of Scientists Collaborate on Cure for Hearing Loss in Ten Years

Looks like a goal is set by a dream team of stem cell scientists and researchers for hearing loss that sensorineural (nerve deafness) hearing loss would be cured through biological means in ten years from now.

The Hearing Restoration Project (HRP) is a Consortium made up of some of the most talented, creative, inspired researchers in the area of cell regeneration in the ear, both mid-level and senior-level investigators whose work has already contributed significantly to the field. The Consortium is an alliance of scientists working collaboratively and interactively with the goal of developing a biologic cure for severe sensorineural hearing loss in the next decade. At the Summit, experts discussed an area of particular promise: hair cell regeneration in humans.


"Hearing Health Foundation understands that it is important to invest in researchers who are working in hair cell regeneration as this will be an important component in the next wave of hearing treatments," said Andrea Boidman, Executive Director of Hearing Health Foundation. "Hearing research needs to be a national priority, and people need to know that there are treatments on the horizon that could really impact their lives."

In fact, a summit was held in New York city today.

Hearing Restoration Initiative 2011 Summit
The Promise of Cell Regeneration
On Monday, October 3, 2011, DRF will host a Summit on Hearing Restoration at the New York Academy of Medicine, at 103rd Street and 5th Avenue in New York City. As a part of DRF's Hearing Restoration Initiative, this landmark summit brings together the leaders in the field of cell regeneration research in the ear to discuss what it is, where it is going and how one day soon a therapy for cell regeneration in the ear will be a reality.


Doors open at 12pm.
Exhibit Hall hours 12pm to 6pm


Exhibitors include:
- AARP - Caption Call - Caption First


This event is open to the public. Online registration has closed, but you will be able to register on-site.


ASL and CART services will be provided.
For more information, please contact Melody Seiling at mseiling@drf.org.

That's pretty ambitious to say that a biological cure using stem cells for sensorineural hearing loss would happen in ten years time. Certainly would be loads better than an Esteem implantable hearing aid.

Growing an Ear Where No Ear Has Grown Before

Deep inside the inner ear, two types of nerve pathways shuttle their messages to and from the brain. Afferent nerves carry messages from the ear to the brain about the sounds your ear hears as well as balance information. Efferent nerves carry information from the brain back to the inner ear to help the ear make necessary adjustments. Researchers have known that the efferent nerves in the inner ear are modified motor neurons that have evolved from neurons that innervate muscles in the face. NIDCD-funded researchers from the University of Iowa wanted to know if other motor neurons in the body could be rerouted to innervate the ear if it were placed in their way. Using tadpoles of an aquatic frog (Xenopus laevis), the researchers transplanted the tadpole ears into the tadpole’s upper side (trunk) or eye region and then watched what happened. They noticed that out of 109 transplanted ears, 73 developed with necessary inner ear structures, including sensory cells, called hair cells, which connect to the nerve fibers. Using a dye that labels only motor neurons, they first found spinal motor neurons had populated the ears in the tadpole’s trunk and cranial motor neurons had populated the ears in the eye region. Next, using antibodies, they demonstrated that connections were indeed forming between the efferent nerves and the hair cells. Finally, using electron microscopy, they showed that structures associated with afferent and efferent nerves were both present in the transplanted ear. Because the afferent nerves travel to the brain directly from the eye region or indirectly from the trunk region by way of the spinal cord, the researchers now want to find out what happens if the inner ear information travels to a non-auditory part of the brain and how that information will be processed.

The poster "Transplantation of Xenopus Laevis Ears Reveals Ubiquitous Rerouting of Motor Neurons to Become Efferents" (#552) takes place Monday, Feb. 8, at 1:00 p.m. PT in the Disneyland Exhibit Hall.

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/feb2010/nidcd-04.htm

Noise-Damaged Hair Cells Can Regrow Stereocilia in Mammals if Rescued in Time

Scientists have been trying to regenerate hair cells — sensory cells in the inner ear named for the hairlike bundles jutting from their tops — out of surrounding non-sensory cells as a way to make up for hair cell loss in ears damaged by noise, some medicines, and other sources. (Unlike other vertebrates, mammals aren’t able to grow new hair cells on their own once the cells are dead or damaged.) But new NIDCD-funded research from Creighton University, Nebraska, and the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, says that hair cells damaged by noise may have more life in them than we once thought. We may be able to regenerate new hair bundles — called stereocilia — from the original hair cells. The researchers subjected guinea pigs to an impulse noise simulating gunfire, resulting in severe hearing loss. Using scanning electron microscopy, they showed extensive stereocilia damage had occurred throughout the inner ear. However, when the researchers injected math1, a key gene for the development of hair cells, into the inner ear within one week of damage, they found that the stereocilia were able to grow back. Furthermore, key measurements showed that the new stereocilia were able to convert sound vibrations into electrical signals, which is how the brain interprets sound. The researchers caution that there is a window of time when the hair cells are still viable following noise damage. If the hair cells are not rescued within that time frame, they will die. But if researchers are able to intervene early enough — within 10 days — the hair cells can possibly be saved. The researchers plan to conduct tissue culture studies to confirm whether these findings are supported at the cellular level.

The talk "Regeneration of Stereocilia of Cochlear Hair Cells by Math1 Gene Therapy" (#484) takes place Sunday, Feb. 7, at 5:00 p.m. PT in the Disneyland South Ballroom.

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/feb2010/nidcd-04.htm

Creighton professor strives to reverse hearing loss

Here's a recent article that came out last week about a Creighton University professor working on a cure for hearing loss.

It’s a bit of a stretch to describe Kirk Beisel’s research as something akin to seeking “Rogaine for the inner ear.”

But if his work with gene therapy pays off, the Creighton University professor and his team may aid untold numbers of people suffering from hearing loss by restoring the tiny sensory cells, the “hair cells”, inside their ears.

Or, he says, by preventing these hair cells from dying in the first place and thereby slowing down what is the leading cause of deafness in humans.

“The commercial potential is huge because by the time most people reach their 60s, nearly a third of them have hearing loss because these hair cells have died,” says Beisel, whose lab is in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Creighton.

“When they reach their mid-70s, half have some kind of deafness,” he adds. Beisel is working closely with Lee Fenicle, director of Intellectual Resources Management, who has applied for several patents relating to Beisel’s research.

Click on the link above to read the rest of the article.

Checkmate?

I read kmayes response that she noticed an interesting thing regarding the news of an 18 year old woman who received her own adult stem cells treatment saw her hearing loss improve dramatically.

I noticed one thing… a total silence from the people who are involved in advocating for audism, DBC, etc… no comments from them (I am sure they lurk here though.)

Interesting.

I think all this is an understatment on what's going on here. More like an exclamation point and some just don't want to deal with that fact. Hence, the literal silence.

Here's the captioned video about the story of that 18 year old woman who may be in fact the first American to have her hearing loss nearly restored with the help of her own adult stem cells.
Why are the Deaf bloggers so quiet on this? If it were a cochlear implant thing they'd be all over it like a moth to a flame because it's a topic they've become well accustomed to and are comfortable in dealing with it, even acceptance. But what about the story on this adult stem cells successful treatment (so far) on an 18 year old deaf woman who was once hearing is now close to her former self? Doing a blog Google search hardly show any Deaf blogs that have covered the breaking story. Not hardly but none is more like it but save a few.

Perhaps they are still digesting the story? Perhaps so even though many believed just a few months ago that a cure or successful restoration (partial or otherwise) wouldn't happen in another few decades away find suddenly themselves confronted with the fact that it happened just last month!

Adult stem cells research and application for the restoration and cure for nerve deafness are fast approaching and becoming a reality. There is no way this can be compared on the level of cochlear implant which was a source of scorn and distrust for over 20 years. According to the video it appeared that using your own adult stem cells has seemingly proven to be safe and effective compared to embryonic stem cells and cells donated from other people for use. Perhaps the Deaf community doesn't want to talk about this success extensively so because looking at the chess board seeing that they've been "checkmated"? After all, how can you compete against 33+ million people with hearing loss with the majority of them due to nerve deafness who will welcome this successful adult stem cells treatment for hearing loss. Even Gamas Wanderings' own poll showed that approximately 60% of those who voted would take or might take the adult stem cells cure over those who would not. That's pretty telling. Funny how people thought cochlear implant was bad enough, we now have a very real possibility in the very near term well within our lifetime to see that nerve deafness hearing loss would become a thing of the past once this adult stem cells treatment begin to ramp up and that 2009 is the turning point.

Checkmate?

Or not?

You decide.

Stem cells strategy for hearing loss cure...a captioned video

First Successful Case Example of a Hearing Loss Cure in a Human Patient?

With the slow progress and FDA approval in the United States on using stem cells to help treat nerve deafness hearing loss a patient with autoimmune condition hearing loss was treated in South Korea using her own adult stem cells that eventually restored her hearing to almost normal levels.

Chloe visited Dr. Won, a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles to harvest her fat tissue around her belly button in last June. Then the tissue was sent to the laboratory RNL BIO in Germantown, Maryland, where they isolated stem cells, put them in liquid nitrogen shipper and transported them to RNL BIO in Seoul, Korea. It took them a month to expand her stem cells to a sufficient amount enough to treat her hearing loss. Chloe's family planned a trip to Korea during their summer vacation. At last, on July 27, 2009, they visited Korea for two weeks. The stem cell treatment took place in Japan -- 600 million cells were administered by three injections with 5 day intervals. The cells were injected into her veins and auditory system.

Chloe's hearing was tested two months after the procedure was completed on October 16, 2009. The results were spectacular. The left side of her ear improved 50% from not being able to hear at all. The right side of her ear gained almost complete hearing.

Dr. Jotterand could not bear her excitement, "Now it's just been a 180 degree turnaround. She's just enjoying life and enjoying being a freshman at the university. She's just having a great time and it's just wonderful to see the joy in her own face and in her life."

Again, with a grain of salt but this looks more promising. With more countries such as Mexico taking part in using stem cells to began the treatment of nerve deafness hearing loss, the United States will surely be left in the dust at this rate unless the FDA somehow fast track this medical process just as they have fast tracked for the treatment of damaged heart muscles with the patient's own stem cells.

Hat tip: Neuro.

UPDATE: See caption video interview of Chloe!

$415,000,000 Considered for Research Work on Deafness - including a cure

This bill under H.R.3293 is recommending that approximately $415,000,000 in funding be available for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, which includes hair cell regeneration and stem cells with the goal of finding a cure for hearing loss.

Hair Cell Regeneration and Stem Cells- The NIDCD should continue building on new approaches for regenerating lost hair cells, including developing technology for gene transfer and gene vector generation, and testing the viability of regenerated cells in animal models at the levels of nucleic acids and proteins. Comparative research on responses to hair cell damage in regenerating and nonregenerating species is also urged. The Committee encourages the NIDCD to expand and support stem cell research in the auditory system, with areas of focus to include the use of stem cells to replace lost hair cells and peripheral neurons via transplantation; integration of stem cells into sensory epithelium; and innervation/re-innervation of the partially deaf or deaf cochlea. The Committee continues to encourage further studies to correlate hair cell replenishment with improved hearing.

Currently as of 8/4/2009 the bill is placed on "Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 149."

Which means this bill is coming along. And based on the description on the need to expand research on hearing loss with the ultimate goal of finding a cure for hearing loss is encouraging.

My Plan Continues to Work Flawlessly!

Heh heh.... my plan continues to work flawlessly! *rubs hands*

People are starting to conspire and bicker against each other over nonsense and boring issues! AGBell is winning! Cochlear implants on the rise with CI-borgs running the show. "Critical"(but worthless) bloggers continue to drop out. Cure for hearing loss is getting closer with each passing day with research for application of stem cells starting today. Enrollment continues to decline until soon no more. The dreaded death panel dies. Mandatory cures for babies born deaf is on its way. And finally your favorite genetically-modified monkey boy in an empty suit successfully evolved into a gun-totin-monkey-in-a-suit you do not want to mess with! Never bring a banana to a gun fight! *evil laugh* - Bwahahahhaaaa!