Five children have had gene therapy to treat inherited deafness, this time in both ears, following the success of earlier treatments in just one ear
By Michael Le Page
5 June 2024
Gene therapy involves delivering a normal copy of a mutated gene that is behind a particular condition
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Five children in China who were born deaf can now hear with both ears after getting gene therapy to provide a normal copy of a mutated gene. The degree of hearing varies from child to child, but all can now hear voices at a conversational volume and locate the source of sounds.
Six months after treatment, the five children’s hearing was around 50 to 60 per cent of normal levels, says team member Zheng-Yi Chen at the Mass Eye and Ear hospital in Boston. “When we whisper, they have a difficult time, but normal conversation is fine,” he says. “We’re very happy.”
In the first part of this trial, which began in 2022, the team gave a separate group of six children in China gene therapy in one ear only. Five of the six gained hearing in the treated ear and are still continuously improving, says Chen.
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The team expects the second group of five children to see further gains too. “What we see now is not the peak of the improvement,” says Chen. “We expect it to improve further.”
The trial in China is the first of several getting under way around the world, with two children in the UK and one in the US also reported to have gained hearing in one ear after receiving gene therapy.