Posted on 04/04/2005 6:56:20 PM PDT by Founding Father
March 28, 2005
IU Researchers Closer to Helping Hearing-Impaired Using Stem Cells
INDIANAPOLIS — Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are several steps closer to the day when a profoundly deaf patient’s own bone marrow cells could be used to let him or her hear the world.
The IU group, led by Eri Hashino, Ph.D., was able to transform, in the laboratory, stem cells taken from adult bone marrow into cells with many of the characteristics of sensory nerve cells -- neurons -- found in the ear. The results suggest that these adult stem cells could be used to treat deaf patients in the future, said Dr. Hashino, an associate professor and Ruth C. Holton Scholar in the Department of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery.
The cells used in the research are called marrow stromal cells -- a type of stem cell from which fat, bone and cartilage normally develop.
“We were interested in marrow stromal cells because of their potential for use in autologous cell-based therapy,” said Dr. Hashino, referring to cell transplantation in which a patient’s own cells are used in treatment. The cells can be collected easily and kept alive in the laboratory until needed, she said.
Other researchers had previously shown that the marrow stromal cells could be induced to transform into neuronal cells, but it wasn’t clear whether, or how, the cells could be further transformed into useful specialized neurons.
In a two-step process, Dr. Hashino and her colleagues first cultivated mouse marrow stromal cells with chemicals known to encourage stems cells to change into primitive neurons. The bone marrow cells took the shape and other characteristics of neurons. Next, they exposed the cells to two molecules that are secreted from nearby tissues of the ear during embryonic development. The two molecules -- known as Sonic hedgehog and retinoic acid -- together caused the marrow stromal cells to further develop into cells with many of the characteristics of auditory neurons, such as the presence of specific genes and proteins.
Dr. Hashino said she and her colleagues are beginning new experiments to test the feasibility of marrow stromal cell transplantation to stimulate the growth of the nerve cells that are often missing from the inner ears of patients with profound hearing loss.
“Sonic hedgehog and retinoic acid are molecules found in embryonic tissues, but not in adult tissues,” said Dr. Hashino. “This suggests that treating marrow-derived stem cells with these molecules before transplantation might greatly enhance the possibility that the process would result in development of specific sensory neurons.”
The research was published March 18 in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is scheduled to appear in the print edition of the journal March 29.
Thanks for this post. Having a profound hearing loss, I always look forward to reading or hearing (yes, I can hear with the help of hearing aids) about new developments in this field.
What? What?? Speak louder!
(just had to be the first to get the bad joke out of the way)
I hope they make some progress in this. As someone who went to too many concerts without hearing protection, it's probably somethig I'll need in a couple of decades.
One wonders what California's bond money will be used for other than the spreading of cancer among the gullible.
good news
I have a son in a similar situation. I salute both of you. There will be a day, sooner than you think, but not as soon as you want, when there will be a cure. Mayo Clinic told us 12 years ago that within 15-20 years there will be a cure and I continue to hope they're correct.
I have some hearing loss as well. Coupled with severe tinitus it makes life a challenge to be sure.
I can live with the hearing loss (I have an aid in my right ear) but I would love to get rid of the damn tinitus. I'm not ready to climb a bell tower with a rifle but I can sure see how it could drive someone a bit mad after a few years.
I live reasonably close to IU. I wonder when there will be clinical trials.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
This is wonderful news! Cynically, I have to wonder how long it will be before the so-called 'deaf activists' will bemoan the dangers these new therapies will pose to their 'deaf culture.' Is there a parade in the whole universe that libs won't rain on?
Ever more developments...
Sounds good! I'll send her the link to the article.
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