Development of a novel treatment for inner ear deafness -inhibition of the expression of Cochlin with RNAi-

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26861423
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Otorhinolaryngology
• Research Institution: Nippon Medical School
• Principal Investigator: Sekine Kuwon 日本医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (20566377)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MATSUMURA Tomohiro 日本医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (20297930) ; IKEZONO Tetsuo 埼玉医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (80277491)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: inner ear / miRNA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study was initiated to check whether the onset of hearing loss can be prevented by inhibiting the expression of the causative protein of DNFA9 in the adult onset-type hereditary hearing loss. First, it is necessary to obtain cells, which are stably expressing Cochlin. However, since there are no cells in the commercial-use cell lines expressing Cochlin, isolated fibroblasts from the inner ear of mice and immortalized cell lines were used to attempt forced expression of COCH mRNA using an expression vector - but cells which stably express Cochlin were unable to be obtained. In addition, as a preliminary experiment, miRNA that could inhibit Cochlin was searched for in miRNA in the human inner ear but was not confirmed.

Free Research Field

耳鼻咽喉科学