As Prescribed: UCSF research into cell death and hearing loss brings new hope

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – “The really cool thing about understanding a precise molecular reason for something like hearing loss is now you have a precise molecular target, right?” said Dr. Dylan Chan , a pediatric specialist in ear, nose and throat conditions at UCSF, in a recent “As Prescribed” interview with KCBS Radio’s Alice Wertz.

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Chan and other researchers have been drilling down to the molecular level to understand hearing loss. This research has covered both genetic hearing loss and hearing loss caused by environmental factors such as chemotherapy medication.

“You know, there are 30 million Americans out there with some kind of permanent hearing loss. And, for adults, it’s mostly because of, just regular age, or noise exposure,” said Chan. “So, if you go to too many Taylor Swift concerts, or, certain drugs and especially cisplatin, which is one of the most common chemotherapy drugs, causes permanent hearing loss.”

Once cells inside the ear die, there is no way for them to come back, he explained. With hearing loss, children may have a difficult time with speech and language development and older adults may be at risk for cognitive decline.

Researchers discovered a gene linked with deafness and cell death in humans and have been conducting studies using mice to explore possibilities for treatment.

“We, you know, tested mice with cisplatin or with noise and found that a particular pathway called the unfolded protein response is involved in hearing loss in these models. But the other thing that can be really beneficial is to look at genetic models. Because sometimes those genetic models point to the same pathway,” said Chan. They also found that the unfolded protein response is also linked with deafness in humans.

What does this all mean?

“Right now, there are no FDA approved drugs to help prevent or treat noise induced hearing loss,” said Chan. Now, with a specific molecule to target, he hopes that new treatments are on the horizon .

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Listen to this week’s “As Prescribed” to learn more. You can also listen to last week’s episode to learn about long COVID research here .