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TREATMENT OF INNER EAR HAIR CELLS
This is a non-provisional application filed under 37 CFR 1.53(b)(1), claiming priority under USC Section 119(e) to provisional Application Serial No. 60/029,536, filed on Nov. 5 1, 1996; and provisional Application Serial No. 60/030,278, filed Nov. 4, 1996 both are now abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention 10 This application relates to inducing, promoting, or
enhancingthe growth, proliferation, or regeneration of inner ear tissue, particularly inner ear epithelial hair cells. In addition, this application provides methods, compositions and devices for prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of inner ear disorders and conditions, particularly hearing impairments. The methods comprise administration of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) and/or fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), or their agonists. 2Q
2. Description of Related Disclosures
Hearing impairments are serious handicaps which affect millions of people. Hearing impairments can be attributed to a wide variety of causes, including infections, mechanical injury, loud sounds, aging, and chemical-induced ototoxicity 25 that damages neurons and/or hair cells of the peripheral auditory system. The peripheral auditory system consistsof auditoryreceptors,hair cells in the organ of Corti, and primary auditory neurons, the spiral ganglion neurons in the cochlea. Spiral ganglion neurons ("SGN") are primary affer- 30 ent auditory neurons that deliver signals from the peripheral auditory receptors, the hair cells in the organ of Corti, to the brain through the cochlear nerve. The eighth nerve connects the primary auditory neurons in the spiral ganglia to the brain stem. The eight nerve also connects vestibularganglion 35 neurons ("VGN"), which are primary afferent sensory neurons responsible for balance and which deliver signals from the utricle, saccule and ampullae of the inner ear to the brain, to the brainstem. Destruction of primary afferent neurons in the spiral ganglia and hair cells has been attributed as a 40 major cause of hearing impairments Damage to the peripheral auditory system is responsible for a majority of hearing deficits (Dublin, 1976; Rybak, 1986; Lim, 1986; Pryor, 1994).
Hearing loss or impairment is a common occurrence for 45 mammals. Impairment anywhere along the auditory pathway from the external auditory canal to the central nervous system may result in hearing loss. Auditory apparatus can be divided into the external and middle ear, inner ear and auditory nerve and central auditory pathways. While having 50 some variations from species to species, the general characterization is common for all mammals. Auditory stimuli are mechanically transmitted through the external auditory canal, tympanic membrane, and ossicular chain to the inner ear. The middle ear and mastoid process are normally filled 55 with air. Disorders of the external and middle ear usually produce a conductive hearing loss by interfering with this mechanical transmission. Common causes of a conductive hearing loss include obstruction of the external auditory canal, as can be caused by aural atresia or cerumen; thick- 60 eningor perforation of the tympanic membrane, as can be caused by trauma or infection; fixation or resorption of the components of the ossicular chain; and obstruction of the Eustachian tube, resulting in a fluid-filled middle-ear space. Auditory information is transduced from a mechanical sig- 65 nal to a neurally conducted electrical impulse by the action of neuro-epithelial cells (hair cells) and SGN in the inner ear.
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All central fibers of SGN form synapses in the cochlear nucleus of the pontine brain stem. The auditory projections from the cochlear nucleus are bilateral, with major nuclei located in the inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body of the thalamus, and auditory cortex of the temporal lobe. The number of neurons involved in hearing increases dramatically from the cochlea to the auditory brain stem and the auditory cortex. All auditory information is transduced by a limited number of hair cells, which are the sensory receptors of the inner ear, of which the so-called inner hair cells, numbering a comparative few, are critically important, since they form synapses with approximately 90 percent of the primary auditory neurons. By comparison, at the level of the cochlear nucleus, the number of neural elements involved is measured in the hundreds of thousands. Thus, damage to a relatively few cells in the auditory periphery can lead to substantial hearing loss. Hence, many causes of sensorineural loss can be ascribed to lesions in the inner ear. This hearing loss can be progressive. In addition, the hearing becomes significantly less acute because of changes in the anatomy of the ear as the animal ages.
During embryogenesis, the vestibular ganglion, spiral ganglion, and the otic vesicle are derived from the same neurogenic ectoderm, the otic placode. The vestibular and auditory systems thus share many characteristics including peripheral neuronal innervations of hair cells and central projections to the brainstem nuclei. Both of these systems are sensitive to ototoxins that include therapeutic drugs, antineoplastic agents, contaminants in foods or medicines, and environmental and industrial pollutants. Ototoxic drugs include the widely used chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin and its analogs (Fleischman et al., 1975; Stadnicki et al., 1975; Nakai et al, 1982; Berggren et al, 1990; Dublin, 1976; Hood and Berlin, 1986), commonly used aminoglycoside antibiotics, e.g. gentamicin, for the treatment of infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, (Sera et al., 1987; Hinojosa and lerner, 1987; Bareggi et al., 1990), quinine and its analogs, salicylate and its analogs, and loop-diuretics.
The toxic effects of these drugs on auditory cells and spiral ganglion neurons are often the limiting factor for their therapeutic usefulness. For example, antibacterial aminoglycosides such as gentamicins, streptomycins, kanamycins, tobramycins, and the like are known to have serious toxicity, particularly ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity, which reduce the usefulness of such antimicrobial agents (see Goodman and Oilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics,6th ed., A. Goodman Oilman et al., eds; Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York, pp. 1169-71 (1980) or most recent edition). Aminoglycoside antibiotics are generally utilized as broad spectrum antimicrobials effective against, for example, gram-positive, gram-negative and acid-fast bacteria. Susceptible microorganisms include Escherichia spp., Hemophilus spp., Listeria spp., Pseudomonas spp., Nocardia spp., Yersinia spp., Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Mycobacteria spp., Shigella spp., and Serratiaspp. Nonetheless,the aminoglycosidesare used primarily to treat infections caused by gram-negative bacteria and, for instance, in combination with penicillins for the synergistic effects. As implied by the generic name for the family, all the aminoglycoside antibiotics contain aminosugars in glycosidic linkage. Otitis media is a term used to describe infections of the middle ear, which infections are very common, particularly in children. Typically antibiotics are systemicallyadministered for infections of the middle ear, e.g., in a responsive or prophylactic manner. Systemic
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