STOCK.XCHNG, DJEYEWATERSensory disorders can have a profound effect on health and quality of life—but gene therapy may be coming to the rescue. Gene therapy’s success in treating blindness disorders –many are in late stage trials—gave hope to a field deterred by early missteps. And now gene therapy researchers are expanding their gaze to focus on all manner of sensory diseases.
In the last year, researchers have demonstrated successes in using gene therapy to restore function in mice that have lost the ability to hear and smell. Other teams are tackling pain management via gene therapy, hoping to overcome the ever-present problem of opioid tolerance. Some of these therapies are already beginning human trials, and as the challenges of injecting viral vectors and genetic materials into patients are overcome, researchers argue that it may one day be possible to treat anything from deafness to anosmia with a simple injection.
One notable success in using gene therapy techniques to treat a sensory disorder came last year when otolaryngolotist Lawrence Lustig at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues helped deaf mice hear again. Glutamate is a ...
