Researchers in Boston and Shanghai worked together on a clinical trial that was able to give five deaf children major hearing restoration. Dr. Zheng-Yi Chen of Mass Eye and Ear speaks to NBC10 Boston about what this means for the future of treating hearing loss.
A collaborative clinical trial engineered by researchers in Boston and in Shanghai, China, was able to deliver significant hearing restoration to five deaf children by using gene therapy — and investigators believe this is only the beginning.
The clinical trial was held in China, and was co-led by researchers at Mass Eye and Ear and Fudan University in Shanghai. Children with a specific type of hereditary deafness — DFNB9 — were treated with a surgical injection to deliver a gene carried by a virus.
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Five of the six children had significant improvement to their hearing — an encouraging result for patients, their families and doctors, especially since there are currently no FDA-approved drugs for hereditary deafness.
Dr. Zheng-Yi Chen of Mass Eye and Ear spoke to NBC10 Boston about the study's results, and the reaction from the patients' parents.
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"Suddenly, the daughter started turning her head to respond,," Dr. Chen said. "That's an amazing moment."
Around the world, there are 1.5 billion people impacted by hearing loss, according to Chen. He said that most of those people have noise-related and age-related hearing loss.
Dr. Chen said this trial opens to door to endless possibilities in the future, for both gene therapy and treatment of hearing loss.
"We can see the future, there will be new treatment," Dr. Chen said. "We're actually working on some of the gene therapy approach for noise-induced hearing loss and age-related hearing loss. And we have some really good signs in some cases that it's possible."
You can watch our Q&A with Dr. Chen at the top of this story.
