Cell therapy for hereditary deafness targeting cochlear fibrocyte

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In this study, we developed a novel animal model for acute sensorineural hearing loss due to fibrocyte dysfunction and performed cell therapy with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) as supplementation of cochlear fibrocytes functioning for cochlear ion transport. We injected MSC into the lateral semicircular canal and a number of these stem cells were then detected in the injured area in the lateral wall. The transplanted animals showed a significantly higher hearing recovery ratio than controls. We analyzed the machinery of this stem cell induction to the targeted site in cochlea and found that monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP1) and chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 2 (CCR2) playedimportant roles for this cell induction. To enhance the MSC induction in cochlea, we developed a novel transplant strategy by induction of MCP1 expression in host cochlear tissue and forced expression of CCR2 in MSC. Furthermore, we developed a novel mouse model for Connexin26 mutation as most frequent heredity deafness in human. With these animal models, the developed stem cells and the novel strategy to enhance the stem cell induction, we examined to establish an efficient stem cell therapy to cochlear target site followed by recovery of hearing function in heredity deafness.