综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
China
Home / China / Innovation

Researchers achieve breakthrough in gene therapy for congenital deafness

By Zhou Wenting | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2026-04-23 19:05
Share
Share - WeChat

All congenital deafness patients who completed the effective 2.5-year follow-up in a nationwide multicenter clinical study experienced hearing restoration to the level of understanding everyday conversations after receiving a gene therapy.

Among them, 57 percent were able to recognize the sound of pages turning in a quiet library, and 43 percent could hear whispers.

Led by the Shanghai-based Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University, the clinical study involved 42 patients ranging from 9 months old to 32 years old. The gene therapy requires just a single injection.

Globally, it is the earliest, largest and longest-followed clinical study in the field of gene therapy for deafness, encompassing both the youngest and oldest patients reported worldwide.

A paper on the study, conducted jointly by eight hospitals across the country, was published on the website of the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Experts said that among the 26 million congenital deafness sufferers worldwide, the DFNB9 type caused by OTOF gene mutation is particularly severe, often resulting in profound bilateral hearing loss from birth. The condition significantly affects language and cognitive development.

The team, led by Shu Yilai at the Shanghai hospital, has long focused on gene therapy for deafness and developed a safe and effective OTOF gene therapy system, pioneering the first clinical trial in 2022.

Published in journals including The Lancet in 2024, their work has been praised by international peers, who say it could open a new era for treating hearing impairment and other diseases through gene therapy.

The multicenter clinical research published this time aimed to reveal long-term patterns of improvement in patients' hearing and speech and to identify key factors influencing treatment efficacy.

The research found that younger patients, particularly those aged 0.5 to 3, showed more significant improvements than adults. Additionally, patients who exhibited responses in Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions, or DPOAE, before treatment tended to have better hearing recovery.

The therapy also proved effective for adult patients, researchers said. Among the three trial participants over 20 years old, two showed marked hearing improvement.

Zhang Wenxi was 32 when she underwent the treatment in 2024. She had congenital profound deafness and received a cochlear implant at age 6.

"On the second morning after receiving the gene therapy, it was the first time in my life that I heard the sound of running water from a faucet," she said, adding that her hearing improved from being able to detect sounds at 100 decibels before treatment to about 55 decibels now.

"The sounds I had never heard before opened the door to a new world for me. It is truly an incredible journey of rebirth," said Zhang, a mother of a 4-year-old child.

She added that the natural sounds she now hears are very different from those perceived through the cochlear implant, particularly in distinguishing sounds in noisy environments and locating their source.

Shu, the lead scientist of the research and a co-corresponding author of the paper, said that as patients' hearing improves, their speech abilities also improve.

"In particular, their enhanced ability to recognize speech in noisy and complex auditory environments will allow them to better integrate into everyday social, educational and life scenarios, and truly enjoy natural hearing," he said.

The study also included three international patients from the United States, South Korea and India, Shu said, adding that the work has attracted global attention, with patients worldwide contacting the team via email.

Zhou Xingtao, president of the hospital, said the institution will continue to support efforts to develop and optimize the treatment and expand it to more types of deafness, as well as to fields such as vision and olfaction.

"We aim to advance the application of cutting-edge technologies, such as gene therapy and cell therapy, across a wider range of diseases, bringing the benefits of frontier science to more patients," he said.

Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1994 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
 
乌海市| 平阴县| 南宁市| 洛南县| 沁阳市| 垣曲县| 嵊州市| 定结县| 溧阳市| 巫山县| 宜春市| 阿拉善左旗| 年辖:市辖区| 齐齐哈尔市| 武汉市| 鄂托克旗| 通化县| 茂名市| 顺平县| 南汇区| 西乌珠穆沁旗| 武隆县| 马公市| 策勒县| 胶南市| 阿拉善盟| 会同县| 青州市| 万山特区| 门源| 高淳县| 太谷县| 钟祥市| 张家港市| 马关县| 启东市| 新民市| 阿拉善右旗| 郓城县| 武安市| 延边|