OHSU Research Team Successfully Converts Human Skin Cells into Embryonic Stem Cells

Another step closer to doing the impossible...

http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/about/news_events/news/2013/05-15-ohsu-research-team-succe.cfm

 

Another example of human capabilities going to waste for another 10 - 20 years unless you pay someone privately millions of pounds. Ugggh

 

I can't wait until this is useful in the next couple of decades.

Seriously, we see nothing but breakthroughs on here with no foreseen application.

 

I don't think it's that far off.

I feel strongly that diabetes will be cured in the not to distant future, and this breakthrough at OHSU may hasten it on...along with cures for a number of other ailments including tinnitus.

 

I think any treatments we can hope for with tinnitus will only be in lessening it, not removing it completely. I believe that much of the tinnitus signal is due to the lack of input to the auditory system. When hair cells can be regrown and restored to full functionality, tinnitus will resolve itself I think. So we're probably looking at 10-15 years off for that I'm guessing.

One thing that is encouraging is how the pace of research has quickened. As time goes by, the pace at which things are discovered and research is conducted will only increase. So maybe 10 years off!

It was only 10 years ago that people were saying curing deafness through cellular regeneration or replacement was 50 years off. Things have changed drastically within 10 years.

Another positive aspect of hair cell regeneration is that nature has done it already for us. It works for all non-mammalian vertebrates. The puzzle is already solved, and it's merely figuring out how to turn on or off the right genes. In many other medical areas, that is not the case. That's why I think this particular field looks bright within the coming decade.

That doesn't do much for us here and now, though. A meaningful treatment may be developed that greatly reduces tinnitus volume or distress for individuals in a time frame that is sooner.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but are you referring to birds?

I know that chickens can repair their hearing if it gets damaged.

 

Yes, that includes birds, reptiles, any thing with a spine that isn't a mammal. It would be interesting to see if the same held true for marsupials (think of koalas, kangaroos, platypus etc.) as opposed to placental mammals. I'm guessing they are probably in the same boat as other mammals though.

You just hear a lot about chickens, zebrafish, and other common animals that can regenerate hair cells because they are easy to work with in a laboratory setting, and they have been studied pretty thoroughly already. If you're a scientist interested in what genes (and promoters for that matter) control regeneration, my guess is that you would want to work with a species that has had it's genome sequenced already. A lot of work is already done for you in that way then.

 

Screw that! If you don't mind me saying

Over 50 million Americans suffer from T and over 40 million have hearing loss, those stats alone are incredibly high, I could name at least 5 other well known diseases or neurological problems that have gained more recognition and have received more money from treatments BUT have less overall stats.

A lot of characteristics can and should come into play, for example soldiers coming back from the army with difficulties or simply someone who has been exposed to an area exceeding the legal sound limit, so much money can be pushed for new treatments. What baffles me the most is that fact that many wealthy people suffer from hearing conditions or T and don't share some of there wealth to try and help other people. Instead you have people like me and you donating a tenner here and there which is making the process very slow.

Ahh you could say my argument is pretty "dreamy" or "brutal" or even wrong but it makes sense to me based on my few months of research! Haha

 

You could say the same thing about a lot of conditions that have meaningful treatments. It's not really a question of priority, but whether people within the science community think that a treatment is possible. That's why I'm hopeful about the passage of AM-101 through the Phase III trials. If it gets approved, large pharmaceutical companies will see that treatments are possible and will dump money into research of their own. It's already going on behind the scenes more than we realize, to that extent. If a treatment is found to be effective and approved, it definitely will be a watershed moment. The reason for that being is that it's hard to ignore the numbers like Deep said above. Millions upon millions of people in the United States alone have tinnitus, and most would probably take some form of treatment if it existed. That's a huge untapped market. I think that this coming decade may be a boom time for hearing loss/tinnitus research much the same as the last decade was for Opthamalogy.

 

Erik -
Well said.

I've read that 4% of th general population is bothered by tinnitus. In the US, that would be about 12 million people who are bothered by it. But, yeah, I agree that the people who are deeply bothered by it, who search message boards is less.

When I first got it, I could almost ignore it. Then it got louder after a sinus infection. Then I obsessed, and the thing got a life of it's own, becoming this demon. I agree that using message boards, focusing on it, seems to be the psychological fuel the demon likes to grow on.

About stem cell research: Recently a doctor (in Germany?) has been curing patients with Meniere''s disease by using stem cells. If that can be done, isn't that regenerating cochlear hair cells? Isn't that the fix we tinnitus sufferers are looking for?

 

i get the ATA newsletter and its a great help in learning whats going on as far as research goes. if you can contribute some money to FIND A CURE!. www.ata.org

 

If you are talking about that MMA Professional fighter who got his Meniere cured, his tinnitus is still there but all the rest is gone.

http://www.mmamania.com/2013/4/18/4...ermany-stem-cell-treatment-cure-ufc-president

Still pretty much expensive experimental stuff for the moment but seems very very promising for the future of Science in general.

 

Thanks, James. This is exactly the story that I read about.

 

Chickens can repair their hearing if damanged? One would think that after eating all these chickens we can therefore automatically get our hearing repaired? Welll..... it made me laugh. But my hearing still sucks!

 

@James White

Could you reference the source that states that although the Menieres was cured his Tinnitus is still there? I have not heard him say this but I could have missed it.

Also Dana white is the president of the UFC not a professional fighter.

 

@Molan
I think you can ignore my statement for the moment, i think my mind just made that up ! Sorry about that.

 

okay so just to clarify at this present moment in time there is no source to state that Dana white still has Tinnitus. He said he is 100% cured of Menieres and if we take him at his word that means any tinnitus he might of had is gone too.

As long as we are clear on that as I would hate to extinguish any hope some people might have about this. Karl is correct if this story is accurate then this is essentially the cure we have been looking for. It's a shame that various Tinnitus organisations have not been quick to investigate this issue further.