Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA.
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
Ageing Res Rev. 2020 May;59:101042. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2020.101042. Epub 2020 Mar 12.
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is the most prevalent sensory deficit. ARHL reduces the quality of life of the growing population, setting seniors up for the enhanced mental decline. The size of the needy population, the structural deficit, and a likely research strategy for effective treatment of chronic neurosensory hearing in the elderly are needed. Although there has been profound advancement in auditory regenerative research, there remain multiple challenges to restore hearing loss. Thus, additional investigations are required, using novel tools. We propose how the (1) flat epithelium, remaining after the organ of Corti has deteriorated, can be converted to the repaired-sensory epithelium, using Sox2. This will include (2) developing an artificial gene regulatory network transmitted by (3) large viral vectors to the flat epithelium to stimulate remnants of the organ of Corti to restore hair cells. We hope to unite with our proposal toward the common goal, eventually restoring a functional human hearing organ by transforming the flat epithelial cells left after the organ of Corti loss.
年龄相关性听力损失（ARHL）是最常见的感觉缺陷。ARHL 降低了不断增长的人口的生活质量，使老年人更容易出现精神衰退。需要大量的需求人群、结构性缺陷以及针对老年人慢性神经感觉性听力损失的有效治疗的可能研究策略。尽管在听觉再生研究方面取得了重大进展，但要恢复听力损失仍存在多个挑战。因此，需要使用新的工具进行更多的研究。我们提出了以下方法：（1）使用 Sox2 将已退化的 Corti 器官后的扁平上皮转化为修复后的感觉上皮；（2）开发一种人工基因调控网络，通过（3）大型病毒载体传输到扁平上皮，以刺激 Corti 器官的残余物来恢复毛细胞。我们希望我们的提案能够共同朝着最终目标努力，即通过转化 Corti 器官丧失后留下的扁平上皮细胞，最终恢复功能性人类听觉器官。
