Understand the hearing loss caused by noise damage through changes in gene expression

Now, a team led by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) has published an online interactive atlas showing the changes in RNA levels of different cell types in mouse ears after noise damage

Once they identified a larger trend in gene expression after injury, UMSOM scientists searched the FDA-approved drug database to find those drugs that are known to produce patterns that are opposite to those caused by noise

Their analysis was published in the "Cell Report" on September 28

"As an otolaryngology surgeon and scientist, I have seen some patients suffer from hearing loss due to age or noise.

The team added their latest data on noise-induced hearing loss to GEAR-Gene Expression Analysis Resource-a tool developed by her laboratory that allows researchers without informatics training to browse gene expression data ( Published early this summer)

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Bioinformatics analysis is led by Master and Master Eldad Shulman from the laboratory of Dr.

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"We originally expected that the subset of neurons that are sensitive to noise and aging would undergo "bad" genetic changes so that we could use drugs to combat them, but this is not the case," Dr.

In another example, the researchers found that out of the four types of immune cells detected, only one showed a major difference in gene expression

In addition, immune-related genes have been found in all inner ear cells after noise damage, many of which are controlled by two key regulatory factors

The research team collected general trends in gene expression and entered them into DrugCentral, a database of known molecular responses to FDA-approved drugs, specifically looking for changes that are opposite to those that occur in noise-damaged cells

"Hearing aids and cochlear implants are used to reduce hearing loss.

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01DC013817, R01DC03544), the Department of Defense Congress-directed Medical Research Program (MR130240, RH200052), and the Caroline Frenkiel Foundation , The Hearing Recovery Project of the Hearing Health Foundation, the Swedish Medical Research Council and Hörselforskningsfonden, the Karolinska Institute, Tysta Skolan and the Office of the Assistant Minister of Health through Neurosensory and Rehabilitation (W81XWH-16-1-0032) , European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (722046, 848261), U.

Journal Reference :

1. Beatrice Milon, Eldad D.