In this project, Dr Morag Lewis at King’s College London explores how mutations in miR-96 gene can cause hearing loss, helping widen our understanding of what genes are involved in hearing.
Project start date: April 2018
Project end date: March 2022
Read about the project outcomes here.
About this project
Progressive hearing loss, where hearing loss worsens with time, is a problem that affects many people in the UK. At the moment, there are no medical treatments available. To develop effective treatments to restore natural hearing, we need to have a greater knowledge of the genes involved in this kind of hearing loss and how these genes work together and interact with each other in the ear.
In the inner ear, a gene called miR-96 controls many other genes and co-ordinates the development of the sensory cells required for normal hearing. Mutations in this gene cause hearing loss in both humans and mice. miR-96 controls genes which are important for hearing, but as yet, we don’t know how it does so.
How it works
The researchers will investigate the changes in the inner ear of mice which have the same mutations in miR-96 as people, to find ways to treat hearing loss. They will study the hearing of and the structure of the inner ears of these mice, to understand what goes wrong as hearing loss progresses.
They will also find out more about the genes controlled by miR-96 and how they interact with each other, to discover new genes that are involved in deafness and to identify those which could be targeted to treat hearing loss.
How will this research benefit people at risk of hearing loss?
This research will improve our understanding of what can go wrong in the inner ear and how that affects hearing, identifying genes whose activity can be targeted by drugs to prevent hearing loss or restore hearing.
It will also help us discover new genes involved in hearing, so that people who have hearing loss due to mutations in these genes will be able to find out the reason for their hearing loss. This is very helpful for patients and their families.
What we’ve learned so far
The researchers identified multiple candidate genes for hearing loss and are investigating some of the most important ones. They have also identified several genes which are potential drug targets, and tested a candidate drug and found that it delays the hearing loss observed in mice carrying one of the human mutations in the miR-96 gene.
About the researcher
Dr Morag Lewis is a Research Fellow at King’s College London. They were awarded an RNID Discovery Research Grant for this project in 2018.
I use mouse and human data to investigate the genes involved in age-related hearing loss, in particular those genes involved in hair cell maintenance and survival.”
