In this project, Professor Peter Santa Maria explores a new potential treatment for recurrent middle ear infections, which can cause permanent hearing loss.
Project start date: April 2021
Project end date: March 2024
About the project
Chronic suppurative otitis media is a recurrent form of middle ear infection that affects up to 330 million people worldwide. It is caused by unwanted bacteria that form communities inside the ear called biofilms.
Currently used antibiotic eardrops kill the infection-causing bacteria, but not all of them: the biofilms act as protective shields for a special type of “sleeping” bacteria, called persister cells. These persisters, hidden inside the biofilm, survive the antibiotic treatment and then multiply, leading to a relapse of infection.
A new treatment that targets the persister bacteria in biofilms could break the cycle of chronic middle ear infection. Professor Santa Maria and his lab have developed a new way to study middle ear infections in mice, to track the infection and its causes, test new treatments and measure their efficiency.
How it works
Recently, the team found a way to ‘supercharge’ the effect of the antibiotic eardrops. First, they created microscopic gold particles coated in molecules that “wake up” persister bacteria and make them more vulnerable to antibiotics. A combination of standard antibiotics with these particles can kill both normal and persister bacteria, completely clearing the middle ear infections in mice.
In this project, the researchers will test that the gold particles and molecules are chemically stable and see how they move inside the ear. Once established that the particles are safe to use on people, they will calculate the ideal dose of this new treatment.
How does this research benefit people with chronic middle ear infections?
Chronic middle ear infections affect millions of people around the world and are a leading cause of persistent hearing loss, but there are currently no effective medical treatments.
The researchers hope to develop a new therapy to permanently clear recurrent middle ear infections by carrying out the experiments needed to move this new treatment towards clinical trials in people. In the longer term, this treatment could prevent millions of people around the world from losing their hearing.
About the researcher
Dr Peter Santa Maria is Professor, Division Chief of Otology & Neurotology at the University of Pittsburgh. He was awarded the RNID-FPA Translational Research Grant in 2021, co-funded by the Fondation Pour l’Audition.