Frequency Therapeutics — Hearing Loss Regeneration

[RB2014]

The hearing aid companies can kiss goodbye to their profits with over priced aids, oooo hearing loss will soon be something of the past. Love positivity and hope.

Even if the procedure works, unless it gives you perfect or close to perfect hearing, the hearing aide companies will still be in business. If it did give you close to perfect hearing though, that would be great.

Hope so, its the tinnitus cure I'm holding on for. If they can do that regenerating hair cells and reversing hearing loss - happy days.

This could very well be the cure for tinnitus that most of us are looking for if your T is due to loss of hair cells. Right now, this could be the biggest hope we have since I really don't see anything else out there worth mentioning.

 

[Jim51042]

@Paulmanlike It not a good comparison between Dr. Wilden's LLLT and a thoroughly animal tested Frequency trial. Frequency has diagnostic evidence of functionally regrown hair cells. While LLLT may improve the ear (I believe it can to a very minor degree) there hasn't been even an animal study showing vast improvement of the ear from LLLT. Even if you don't believe follow the investment (which is shows the opinion/confidence of many others). If LLLT had been as promising it would have receive as much investment in say 2011 that Frequency is receiving now.

 

[Jim51042]

Even if the procedure works, unless it gives you perfect or close to perfect hearing, they will still be in business.

Perfect hearing may need a combo of Frequency and a synaptic regrowth company (maybe Decibel).

 

[Paulmanlike]

Bagsy first in the que when/if this treatment comes available (pushes everybody to the back)

Even if it went private first, I would save for the treatment like a Mofo.

 

[jcloth]

I've been keeping a Word document with every hopeful thing I can find, and Frequency Therapeutics is one of the only developments keeping me going right now. Sorry to repeat previous info but this is my summary of very encouraging things:


- The $32 million funding round. That's a pretty large boost and I think that they're already using that money to take the PCA platform further than hearing treatments is perhaps no bad sign: in fact, that really indicates efficacy.

- The Boston Globe reporting that their goal is to get a treatment on the market "in the next few years."

- They've been in "stealth mode" for 18 months, so must be onto something strong with this sudden flurry of publicity

- John LaMattina being appointed as Senior Advisor to the CEO. He had several top jobs at Pfizer, the largest pharmaceutical company on the planet. LaMattina has already helped them "accelerate" development of their product candidates. He says: "The team has made remarkably rapid progress"

- Robert Langer's reputation. "When MIT's Langer – who has launched dozens of companies and is said to be the world's most-cited engineer – is involved with a startup, he isn't usually looking to make a small change in a scientific field. 'Disruptive is the opposite of incremental,' he told us. 'Incremental change certainly happens, but fundamental changes – they're much rarer. I think that's what Frequency could be.'"
http://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/stem-cell-therapy-reverse-hearing-loss/

I also saw this comment under the Globe piece: 'I have been working with deaf people in the academic world for twenty years and have heard Dr. Langer speak on a number of occasions. I regard him as a latter-day Edison, and if he is behind this effort it is bound to succeed!"

 

[Paulmanlike]

Winner, where do I buy stocks in this company? May as well something good come out of tinnitus

 

[Paulmanlike]

I read an article before however it said could "take years, even decades" and not to expect anything soon. I will try and find it again.

 

[jcloth]

I also have some questions. I think I may be seriously dim on all this but I'm not clear on the following:

- Has Langer and Karp's research demonstrated hair cell regeneration in live mice and primates, whereby their restored hearing was observed, or simply in cochleas removed from their bodies?

- What exactly is going on in the intended procedure? So they are exposing supporting cells (which are right next to hair cells?) to molecule cocktails that induce them to produce a large "colonies" of stem cells that can develop into hair cells. Do these hair cells magically go in the right place, where damaged ones have died? I'm imagining these artificial cell "colonies" floating around in the cochlea. What happens to excess cells that have been manufactured, is there any risk there? How do healthy hair cells/their supporting cells react?

- Are all hair cells the same? i.e. do they not have different characteristics depending on their position in the cochlea and what frequencies they are intended to pick up?

 

[Aaron123]

- Has Langer and Karp's research demonstrated hair cell regeneration in live mice and primates, whereby their restored hearing was observed, or simply in cochleas removed from their bodies?

There are no published results in live mice or primates.

- What exactly is going on in the intended procedure? So they are exposing supporting cells (which are right next to hair cells?) to molecule cocktails that induce them to produce a large "colonies" of stem cells that can develop into hair cells. Do these hair cells magically go in the right place, where damaged ones have died? I'm imagining these artificial cell "colonies" floating around in the cochlea. What happens to excess cells that have been manufactured, is there any risk there? How do healthy hair cells/their supporting cells react?

Based on what has been published the answers to these questions are not known. That said, they don't need to produce large colonies in the ear. They just need for an existing supporting cell to split in two so that one of them can become a hair cell. The large colonies are useful for research purposes.

Hopefully the next paper or papers will answer these (and other) questions.

 

[Paulmanlike]

I think that it is not possible to create above the threshold of 15,000 hair cells with the cochlear, interesting questions keen to know the answers too.

I also have a question, regarding noise exposure or NIHL, is it just the hair cells that are damaged or is there also damage to the nerve? Reading before about hypercausis it stems from damage to the nerve while hair cells remain intact? So assuming this therapy is succussful, would it Ben able to repair the nerve function and hair cells while damaged or otherwise dead? Could full hearing function be restored, hypercausis eliminated and ringing eliminated?

 

[jcloth]

There are no published results in live mice or primates.


Based on what has been published the answers to these questions are not known. That said, they don't need to produce large colonies in the ear. They just need for an existing supporting cell to split in two so that one of them can become a hair cell. The large colonies are useful for research purposes.

Hopefully the next paper or papers will answer these (and other) questions.

Thank you. Ok, that makes more sense, so the molecules in whatever gel they make will target existing supporting cells and the resulting hair cells will be in the right positions. I hope that particularly bad noise traumas do not also damage the supporting cells and therefore prevent them from splitting

 

[Aaron123]

I think that it is not possible to create above the threshold of 15,000 hair cells with the cochlea

Do you have a reference for this?

is it just the hair cells that are damaged or is there also damage to the nerve?

Synapses are damaged before hair cells (Liberman and Kujawa 2009 and others).

Reading before about hypercausis it stems from damage to the nerve while hair cells remain intact?

What are the references for this?

would it Ben able to repair the nerve function and hair cells while damaged or otherwise dead?

This is an approach to regenerate hair cells, not nerves. An important question is whether these hair cells would become innervated.

Could full hearing function be restored, hypercausis eliminated and ringing eliminated?

No one knows at this point. Assuming we get to trials, we will learn the answer to that question.

 

[jcloth]

Reading before about hypercausis it stems from damage to the nerve while hair cells remain intact?

I'm not sure... it probably can be nerve damage instead of/as well as hair cell damage. Anecdotally I find it a bit coincidental that my hyperacusis is a tad worse in my right ear than my left and that's the one that performs worse on an audiogram. I think when people produce "perfect" audiograms, we have to remember these often don't measure loss above 8k and may be missing something anyway.

 

[Paulmanlike]

I vaguely remember reading a thread when somebody asking what would happen in they made more cells than the 15,000 would they become super-human. Somebody answered it wasn't possible. Not exactly a reliable reference .

Regarding hypercausis, I have what seems like spasms in my ear if there's noise around or not, so I looked up hypercausis and on a website it stated that hypercausis usually results from noise trauma and sometimes the nerves are damaged while hair cells could remain intact. I will find the link now.

So what would be the point in regenerating hair cells if they did not become innervated? That would mean you could have the healthy number of cochlear cells that still dont do their job? Have they made any comment on this regarding the likelihood of cells becoming innervated?

 

[Paulmanlike]

There is speculation that the efferent portion of the auditory nerve (olivocochlear bundle) has been affected (efferent meaning fibers that originate in the brain which serve to regulate hearing). This theory suggests that the efferent fibers of the auditory nerve are selectively damaged, while the hair cells that allow the hearing of pure tones in an audiometric evaluation remain intact. - Wikipedia

 

[Aaron123]

So what would be the point in regenerating hair cells if they did not become innervated?

There would be no point.

Have they made any comment on this regarding the likelihood of cells becoming innervated?

We will have to wait for the next paper or papers.

That said, the folks at Frequency may well know the answers to these questions by now.

 

[jcloth]

So what would be the point in regenerating hair cells if they did not become innervated? That would mean you could have the healthy number of cochlear cells that still dont do their job? Have they made any comment on this regarding the likelihood of cells becoming innervated?

Samir posted a summary of correspondence he had with Dr McLean a couple of pages back. On this point he said:

• The hair cells they make in a dish show that they have all the characteristics to function properly. They have long bundles, function electrically, and make the synapse components to connect to hair cells
• In development it is the hair cells and supporting cells that release the proteins to attract neurons (NT3, BDNF). Their research shows that regenerated hair cells make the synapse components to communicate with neurons, even if neurons are not present.

 

[Paulmanlike]

Is it rare to have hypercausis? I have been having these spasms in my ear, although I don't recall pain in ears or uncomfortableness due to any noise, just tinnitus. Also, I am yet still unaware of any hearing loss.

 

[jcloth]

Direct those questions to the hyperacusis support page: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/forums/support.55/

 

[DoNotGoGentle]

I'm not sure... it probably can be nerve damage instead of/as well as hair cell damage. Anecdotally I find it a bit coincidental that my hyperacusis is a tad worse in my right ear than my left and that's the one that performs worse on an audiogram. I think when people produce "perfect" audiograms, we have to remember these often don't measure loss above 8k and may be missing something anyway.

Yeah people have perfect hearing up to 8hz but still have tinnitus but they do have high frequency loss wonder if people like that could still join the trial.

 

[jcloth]

Another question... Don't the supporting cells next to healthy non-damaged hair cells also get activated and generate extra hair cells, and what would the effect of that be?

 

[Paulmanlike]

You will turn into a super human jcloth. Have hearing like a dog.

 

[Paulmanlike]

I wonder when and if this comes out how much it will be? Thousands? Can't see the NHS is uk adopting it if it's expensive just for tinnitus (even though we all know how horrible it is)

 

[jcloth]

I can't think that a gel injection to the middle ear would cost thousands. But even if it does, I will never have put together so much money so fast haha!

 

[Rasmus]

You will turn into a super human jcloth. Have hearing like a dog.

where can i sign up

 

[Aaron123]

Another question... Don't the supporting cells next to healthy non-damaged hair cells also get activated and generate extra hair cells, and what would the effect of that be?

This is a good question, and just like yesterday's questions, we don't know the answer. Hopefully there is some endogenous signalling process that would prevent "unnecessary" differentiation. Having to somehow control this process will make treatment enormously more difficult.

 

[spingee]

This is a good question, and just like yesterday's questions, we don't know the answer. Hopefully there is some endogenous signalling process that would prevent "unnecessary" differentiation. Having to somehow control this process will make treatment enormously more difficult.

You can go complete deaf before treatment

 

[jcloth]

This is a good question, and just like yesterday's questions, we don't know the answer. Hopefully there is some endogenous signalling process that would prevent "unnecessary" differentiation. Having to somehow control this process will make treatment enormously more difficult.

Yep, bit of a worry. I could imagine extra hair cells springing up in various areas causing worse tinnitus/hyperacusis due to distorted over-emphasis on certain frequencies

 

[Paulmanlike]

Could it be possible then that we could grow an extra ear and turn into some sort of mutant?

 

[Aaron123]

Could it be possible then that we could grow an extra ear and turn into some sort of mutant?

no.