2024-01-31 12:53:15
Electronic chips and modified genes restore hearing and movement to humans
Days following Chinese and American researchers announced the development of a gene therapy that can restore hearing to children suffering from congenital deafness, American billionaire Elon Musk revealed that his company, Neuralink, had performed the first operation to implant a brain chip on a human, in a step aimed at helping people with affliction. Paralyzed, then those who suffer loss of hearing and vision.
These steps reveal the role that modern science plays in effectively treating human disabilities. A few days ago, a report published in the medical journal “The Lancet” said: Five out of six young children suffering from severe deafness experienced an improvement in their sense of hearing, as well as an improvement in speech recognition following six months of undergoing the treatment developed by the company “Refreshgen Therapeutics.” Chinese.
According to Reuters news agency, all the children suffered from severe deafness caused by mutations in the OTof (otoferlin) gene. The protein otoferlin is essential for transmitting sound signals from the ear to the brain.
Previous research indicates that mutations in this gene are responsible for two to three percent of cases of congenital deafness. In surgical interventions conducted at the Eye, Nose, Ear, and Throat Hospital at Fudan University in China, researchers used a harmless virus to carry a copy of the human gene to the patients’ inner ear.
Mutations in the autoferlin gene are responsible for 2 to 3 percent of cases of congenital deafness (Reuters)
After 26 weeks, the researchers announced that five of the six children showed signs of improved hearing, as well as significant improvements in speech perception and the ability to conduct conversations. The researchers added that the side effects were mostly minor and none of them had a long-term effect. Researchers are not sure why the sixth child did not respond to treatment. One possible explanation is that some of the gene therapy solution leaked from the inner ear during or following surgery.
In a related context, an eleven-year-old boy, following undergoing a new genetic treatment, was able to hear “for the first time in his life,” a hospital in the American city of Philadelphia announced last week. According to Agence France-Presse, the child Issam, who grew up in Morocco, was able to recognize, for example, the roar of cars and his father’s voice, which came from hair clippers.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which conducted the treatment, explained in a statement that this achievement, the first of its kind in the United States, provides hope for patients suffering from hearing loss caused by genetic mutations all over the world. Like the children of the Eye, Nose, Ear, and Throat Hospital at Fudan University in China, Issam also suffered from severe deafness caused by a defect in the autoferlin gene.
Surgeon John Germiller, director of clinical research in the hospital’s Department of Otolaryngology, said: “Gene therapy for hearing loss is a goal that doctors and scientists specializing in hearing loss have been pursuing for more than 20 years.” “We have finally reached it,” he added.
He explained in the statement that the gene therapy that was applied to the patient “aims to correct a very rare gene defect, but these studies might pave the way for future targeting of more than 150 other genes that cause hearing loss in children.” This comes amid Elon Musk’s announcement that his company, Neuralink, had performed the first operation to implant a brain chip on a human, which is a big step towards the billionaire’s goal of helping people with paralysis, and then those who suffer from hearing and vision loss, to control phones and computers with their minds. .
Elon Musk holds the innovative brain chip (AFP)
The chip sends brain signals wirelessly to an application affiliated with Neuralink, which converts them into action.
Neuralink relies on technology that has been used for decades, aiming to implant electrodes in human brains to interpret some brain signals and treat conditions such as paralysis, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease.
Despite all these scientific developments, they may face difficulties in obtaining licenses for their use, especially those that involve the use of new technology on humans, such as that of “Elon Musk’s chips.”
The US Food and Drug Administration granted Neuralink a license to begin human trials on the chip in May of last year, following initially rejecting the matter due to concerns related to people’s safety.
This came following the company conducted a series of transplant experiments on different animals, for which it was severely criticized. News reports reported that experiments conducted on animals caused suffering to some of them, as veterinary records showed problems with implanting the chip in the brains of monkeys, including paralysis and brain swelling.
Former Neuralink employees told Reuters news agency that in one case, the device was implanted in the wrong location in pigs. Which led to her death.
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