Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, October 12 (Xinhua)-- the world's first gene therapy trial for certain types of deafness has been launched, which may herald a revolution in the treatment of hearing loss.

The Tuyuan CDC trial, led by ear surgeon Professor Manohar Bance, currently plans to recruit up to 18 children from the UK, Spain and the US to treat auditory neuropathy (auditory neuropathy), a hearing disorder caused by abnormal auditory coding.

Participants will undergo five-year monitoring to assess whether their hearing has improved, and preliminary results are expected to be released in February next year.

Bance, from the NHS Foundation Trust at Cambridge University Hospital, believes that NHS's decision last year to start funding genetic testing for hearing loss is crucial to promoting gene therapy and "changing the landscape".

CTOnews.com Note: auditory neuropathy may be caused by a mutation in a gene (OTOF gene) that produces a protein called otoferlin. This protein usually allows hair cells in the ear to communicate with the auditory nerve.

Mutations in the OTOF gene can be identified by genetic testing. However, Bance says this condition is often overlooked when screening newborns for potential hearing problems.

At present, the standard treatment for this disease is cochlear implants, but they also have limitations. They can not filter the background noise in the complex listening environment, and it is usually difficult to participate in the group conversation in the multi-person speaking scene.

Bence estimates that about 20000 people in the United States and five European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy) suffer from auditory neuropathy as a result of OTOF mutations, highlighting the potential for successful treatment.

The new gene therapy aims to use modified non-pathogenic viruses to transfer new genes to replace the defective OTOF gene, which will be injected into the body under general anesthesia.

He noted that there are precedents for using gene therapy to treat other diseases, citing Zolgensma, a licensed drug for spinal muscular dystrophy in young children and a drug being developed to treat blindness.

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