ERBB2 Activates Growth of New Hair Cells — White Lab at the University of Rochester

[Golly]

Summary: Study identifies the mechanisms behind regenerating new cochlear hair cells. The findings could have positive implications for treating or reversing hearing loss associated with damage to cochlear hair cells.

The 2018 study led by Jingyuan Zhang, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the White lab at the time, found that activating the growth gene ERBB2 pathway triggered a cascading series of cellular events by which cochlear support cells began to multiply and activate other neighboring stem cells to become new sensory hair cells.

"This new study tells us how that activation is happening—a significant advance toward the ultimate goal of generating new cochlear hair cells in mammals," said White.

Using single-cell RNA sequencing in mice, researchers compared cells with an overactive growth gene (ERBB2 signaling) with similar cells that lacked such signaling.

They found the growth gene—ERBB2—promoted stem cell-like development by initiating the expression of multiple proteins—including SPP1, a protein that signals through the CD44 receptor. The CD44 receptor is known to be present in cochlear-supporting cells. This increase in cellular response promoted mitosis in the supporting cells, a key event for regeneration.

Can Hearing Loss Be Reversed? Research Reveals Clues That Could Regrow the Cells That Help Us Hear

/G

 

[KoolKat]

Now that's what I'm talking about

This is what we need more of. Hope is still alive. We can make it brothers and sisters.

CHOO CHOO, all aboard the ERBB2 train

 

[Jonno02]

This is what we need more of. Hope is still alive. We can make it brothers and sisters.

Of course it is. People are just venting in the Frequency Therapeutics thread, and some of it is entirely justified. The disappointment is palpable.

Diabetes wasn't treatable until it was. Most cancer wasn't treatable until it was. Cataract wasn't treatable until it was. You get the idea.

Hearing regeneration isn't possible, until it is. Might take 5 years or 15, but regenerating hearing isn't a surgical procedure or a 'take these tablets twice a day for a week' - we're asking the body to go against its very make-up in order to reactive dormant cells to enter their juvenile state.

Call it copium or false-hope or whatever, but if you showed modern medicine to someone even 100 years ago they'd think it's magic. I believe that we're nowhere near a cure, but if the first treatments like the Michigan device can alleviate tinnitus, we're on the right path.

 

[TeslaGuy]

This is a step forward. We are starting to see a lot more of these discoveries of hearing regeneration. More and more people and companies are looking in to this and that makes me glad. Science can be very slow but we will get there. I believe in the near future the whole regenerative medicine will explode and revolutionize the medicine. I don't want it to stop just for the ears but cure the whole body. We just need to get to that point.

The early 1900s people would have thought you are insane if told that in about 50 years we will have rockets to go outer space since they have just witnessed the first airplane flying.

 

[rei]

Some people thought computers could never be faster than 200 MHz, never mind fit inside of our pockets. That wasn't all that long ago.

I thought I was a negative person, until I joined this forum. Being in reality does not mean being unreasonably skeptical. Maybe White Lab has it figured out. Time will tell.

 

[GlennS]

These announcements remind me of the cavalcade of battery tech breakthroughs.

There is a huge gap between lab results and the real world, unfortunately.

 

[tomytl]

It would be interesting if regenerating new hair cells was really possible by just manipulating the ERBB2 gene. I hope they will publish more updates soon.

 

[JimmyStrong]

It would be interesting if regenerating new hair cells was really possible by just manipulating the ERBB2 gene. I hope they will publish more updates soon.

Their soon is probably 3-5 years.

 

[tomytl]

Hmm, I just read this in the following article:

The ERBB2 pathway was shown to promote supporting cell (SC) proliferation with increased MYO7A+ cells in neonatal mice. However, the capacity to generate HCs decreases rapidly 2 wk after birth, even with the manipulation of multiple signal pathways. Though early studies provided evidence that manipulating signal pathways had a similar effect in the adult mammalian cochlea, compared to the neonatal stage, the efficiency to regenerate HCs in the adult mouse cochlea has been exceedingly low.

Reprogramming by drug-like molecules leads to regeneration of cochlear hair cell–like cells in adult mice | PNAS

Looks like much more progress is needed for solid hair cell regeneration in adults.

 

[KoolKat]

Hmm, I just read this in the following article:

Reprogramming by drug-like molecules leads to regeneration of cochlear hair cell–like cells in adult mice | PNAS

Looks like much more progress is needed for solid hair cell regeneration in adults.

I ain't got time for this. From now on, for a decade or so, I'll ignore all the hair cell regeneration related things.

Please let there be a cure for tinnitus before then.

 

[tomytl]

I ain't got time for this. From now on, for a decade or so, I'll ignore all the hair cell regeneration related things.

Please let there be a cure for tinnitus before then.

True, after the failed trials from Frequency Therapeutics, Otonomy. Audion, Novartis (GenVec), it's all very discouraging.

The work of researcher Zheng-Yi-Chen gives me a tiny glimmer of hope. I've been following his work for 20 years now, and I believe his research is very solid and could offer a perspective. But I agree with you that it will still take years until a clinical trial is conducted, unfortunately.

However, perhaps these findings could also help tinnitus research, whether it's the administration of medication or new insights into signal processing. These passionate researchers give me some hope and help me cope with the situation.

I also hope for a prompt relief of our suffering.