In this project, Professor Alan Cheng at Stanford University, USA addresses antibiotics that can cause permanent hearing loss to create new, effective antibacterial treatments that don’t damage hearing.
Project start date: March 2022
Project end date: March 2025
Read about the project outcomes here.
About the project
A type of antibiotic called aminoglycosides are used to treat bacterial infections, but can also cause permanent hearing loss. Despite this, there are no treatments available to protect people’s hearing when they take these antibiotics, and around 1 in 5 people treated with aminoglycosides will develop hearing loss as a result.
Aminoglycosides get into the sound-sensing hair cells of the inner ear and irreversibly damage them. In this project, researchers will see if they can be modified in a way that they fight infections but do not get into hair cells in the first place.
How it works
Researchers led by Professor Alan Cheng have been developing aminoglycoside antibiotics that are less damaging to hearing but still effective at treating infection. They do this by modifying the chemical structure of existing aminoglycoside antibiotics to prevent them from entering hair cells. So far, they have generated over 30 new aminoglycosides, and they have taken 3 forward for further development.
Now, the researchers will test their new antibiotics on hair cells grown in the lab. The most promising compounds will be tested in an animal model of bacterial infection to see if they can clear the infection without causing hearing loss.
How will this research benefit people at risk of hearing loss?
If this research is successful, it will generate new, less damaging aminoglycosides that can be developed further towards clinical testing in people. Such aminoglycosides would allow people suffering from serious bacterial infections to benefit from effective antibiotics without losing their hearing.
What we’ve learned so far
The researchers were able to develop of a novel modified aminoglycoside that is significantly less ototoxic, while maintaining their antimicrobial efficacy. In the future, these could become safe alternatives for people at risk of hearing loss.
About the researcher
Professor Alan Cheng is Professor of Otolaryngology at Stanford University, USA. This Discovery Research Grant was co-funded in partnership with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
With support from RNID and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, we were able to develop of a novel modified aminoglycoside that is significantly less ototoxic, both in vitro and in vivo, while maintaining their antimicrobial efficacy. We aim to expand this class of novel non-ototoxic aminoglycosides and test them clinically in the future.
We are tremendously grateful for funding from RNID and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.”
