New DX243-conjugated nanoparticles as a neuroprotective drug for hearing disorders

Call

(EuroNanoMed III) Joint Transnational Call for Proposals (2021) for “European Innovative Research & Technological Development Projects in Nanomedicine”

Investigador principal

Jose María Millán Salvador

Role

Participant

Year

2022

Because of their high prevalence, 5% of the population worldwide, an untreated decline of hearing impairments, has a profound negative impact on the affected individuals' quality of life, impeding communication, and leading to social isolation, depression, reduced physical and cognitive functions. Impaired synaptic transmission, degeneration of auditory neuron neurites, and neuronal loss characterize most of these disorders. Despite progress on hearing loss mechanisms, treatment options are mostly missing, and the economic and societal burden on healthcare systems worldwide keeps increasing. To date, the cochlear implant, which bypasses the damaged HCs by providing direct electrical stimulation of the primary auditory SGNs, is used to restore functional hearing in profoundly deaf patients. However, their beneficial outcomes vary significantly among patients, often impacted by the number and functional state of surviving auditory SGNs. A therapeutic approach that would prevent or delay degenerative processes is thus urgently needed. We previously identified a new drug that exhibits excellent potential to prolong neuronal survival. The efficacy of this drug in the inner ear and drug' stability after delivery is yet to be established. Here, we take advantage of two deaf mouse models, each displaying hearing loss and varying degree of neuronal degeneration. Using these mice as model systems for neuronal degeneration (early-onset, slow progression for clarin-1, and late-onset, rapid progression for clarin-2), the objective of NANOEAR is to develop a novel nanoparticle-based pharmacologic strategy to prevent and/or correct deafness-mediated neuronal degeneration.