The virus helps deaf mice hear sounds

An international team of scientists on February 6 said gene therapy using a benign virus helped deaf ears hear sounds around them.

The results of the study are published in Nature Biotechnology and are considered to be the key to the hope of curing diseases for people suffering from genetic hearing loss through methods. gene therapy.

In the first study, Professor Konstantina Stankovic of Harvard Medical School and colleagues used a harmless virus to help transport a gene capable of curing genetic deafness deep into a mouse's ear. deaf.

After many failed attempts, the "virus package" has finally been delivered to the right place - where scientists call the outer hair cells of the ear, the "tuning" part to help pick up sound waves.

Whether the new gene has opened the door to sound for the hearing impaired.

Since then, these outer hair cells help amplify the sound, allowing the inner hair cells to send stronger signals to the brain. After testing, Gwenaelle Geleoc, a researcher at the FM Kirby Center for Neurobiology at the Boston Institute of Children, said that this technique brings the ability to hear and balance "at an unprecedented level", Helping deaf mice can hear the whisper of humans.

In the second study, a group of scientists led by Ms. Geleoc also applied the same method to treat mutated mice with Usher syndrome - a rare genetic disease in children. She can cause deafness, imbalance and blindness.

The benign virus used by scientists brought a normal healthy version of the gene to the damaged hair cells and "repaired" it right after the mice were "born".

The results have far surpassed expectations until 19 of the 25 treated mice were able to hear sounds lower than 80 decibels - the unit used to measure sound intensity, while conversations normal human beings are only about 70 decibels. In addition, some other mice can hear sounds of 25-30 decibels, similar to whispers.

This breakthrough promises to soon become an effective therapy for curing disease or improving hearing function in children.

Some experts evaluate the study to provide encouraging results in the effort to treat genetic hearing disorders that are affecting about 125 million people worldwide, but they also warn of treatment techniques. This has yet to be proven safe, so human testing may take at least 3 years.