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Deafness Reversed: Single Injection Brings Hearing Back Within Weeks
CHINA, JUL 3 – A single synthetic virus injection restored hearing in all 10 patients aged 1 to 24 with OTOF gene mutations, with improvements seen within one month, study shows.
- On July 3, 2025, researchers at Karolinska Institutet reported a gene therapy restoring hearing in ten patients across five hospitals in China.
- This therapy targets OTOF gene mutations causing congenital deafness by delivering a healthy gene via a harmless virus in a single injection.
- Participants aged one to 24 showed rapid hearing gains, with younger children, especially ages five to eight, demonstrating the greatest improvement.
- Hearing improved significantly, with average perceptible sound reducing from 106 decibels to 52, and no serious side effects observed during a year-long follow-up.
- Researchers, including Dr. Duan, view this as a major step toward treating various genetic deafness types and are expanding work to other genes like GJB2 and TMC1.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Injection restores hearing within a month 'in huge step forward' for patients with genetic deafness
A revolutionary gene therapy has restored hearing in ten patients suffering from congenital deafness, marking a significant breakthrough in treating genetic hearing loss.The groundbreaking treatment, detailed in Nature Medicine, targeted individuals aged between one and 24 years who had severe hearing impairment caused by mutations in the OTOF gene.The therapy involved a single injection of a synthetic virus carrying a functional version of the …
Bilateral gene therapy in children with autosomal recessive deafness 9: single-arm trial results
Gene therapy is a promising approach for hereditary deafness. We recently showed that unilateral AAV1-hOTOF gene therapy with dual adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotype 1 carrying human OTOF transgene is safe and associated with functional improvements in patients with autosomal recessive deafness 9 (DFNB9). The protocol was subsequently amended and approved to allow bilateral gene therapy administration. Here we report an interim analysis of th…
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