Gene Therapy Helps Deaf Children and Adults Hear for First Time
A new gene therapy helped deaf children and adults as old as 32 hear for the first time. The treatment worked on people born with a rare type of deafness caused by mutations in the OTOF gene. Benefits have lasted more than two years for some patients.
Researchers successfully used gene therapy to restore hearing in people born with a rare form of deafness. The treatment, called DB-OTO gene therapy, targets people with mutations in the OTOF gene, which causes congenital deafness.
In clinical trials, 12 patients received the treatment. Three patients saw their hearing return to normal levels. Others improved from complete deafness to moderate hearing loss, with hearing thresholds improving to 50 decibels. The youngest patients were children, while the oldest was 32 years old.
The therapy works by injecting a working copy of the OTOF gene directly into the inner ear. This gene is crucial for hair cells in the ear to send sound signals to the brain. When it's missing or broken, people are born completely deaf.
Results appeared within one month of treatment. For some patients, the hearing improvements have lasted more than two years with no signs of fading. The research involved multiple institutions, including teams from China working with Karolinska Institutet.
This type of genetic deafness affects a small percentage of deaf people, but the success opens doors for treating other genetic causes of hearing loss.
This breakthrough could help thousands of people born with this specific type of deafness. Unlike hearing aids or implants, gene therapy fixes the root cause by replacing the broken gene. It offers hope for treating other genetic forms of deafness in the future.
Researchers will continue following patients to see how long the hearing improvements last and monitor for side effects.
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