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By Patricia Reaney
LONDON, Mar 26 (Reuters) - Within the next five years scientists may be able to engineer and replace damaged cells in the ears of deaf people to help them hear again.
The engineered cells will work in tandem with cochlear ear implants to restore hearing to long-term deaf people, Professor Matthew Holley, an expert on sensory physiology at the University of Bristol, told a London medical conference on Monday.
Cochlear implants are small devices that are surgically implanted in the ear to stimulate the auditory nerve. They have helped young children and the newly deaf to hear but are not suitable for long-term deaf people with very damaged auditory nerves.
About nine million people in Britain are deaf or have impaired hearing. One child in every 2000 is born deaf from genetic causes.
Scientists have already used stem cells--master cells that have the ability to form virtually any cell in the body--to develop brain and muscle cells for transplant.
But they were not sure whether they would be able to engineer cells in the ear, a tiny and specialised organ.
"What we have done is engineered them from the mouse and we have shown that you can actually make the different cell types in the ear and therefore it is theoretically possible to do that with human cells," Holley told Reuters.
"The idea is that you can genetically modify sensory cells from the embryonic ear and you can then grow them in culture and switch them to make the necessary cell types."
The technique is already being used by British biotechnology company ReNeuon Holdings Ltd, a spin-off from the Institute of Psychiatry, to regenerate damaged parts of the brain. The company has proved the idea with rats and plans to begin human trials later this year.
In a presentation to Monday's conference on genetics and deafness, Holley said the ear cells may be able to improve contact between the cochlear implant and the brain to restore hearing.
"This opens up the prospect of making implants more effective and using them on a much wider scale. We may be in a position to make these advances in three to five years' time," said Holley.
Engineered cells may also eventually be able to restore hearing without the use of an implant, but Holley said that would be in the more distant future.
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