1.Stem Cell-Based Hair Cell Regeneration and Therapy in the Inner Ear.
Jieyu QI ; Wenjuan HUANG ; Yicheng LU ; Xuehan YANG ; Yinyi ZHOU ; Tian CHEN ; Xiaohan WANG ; Yafeng YU ; Jia-Qiang SUN ; Renjie CHAI
Neuroscience Bulletin 2024;40(1):113-126
Hearing loss has become increasingly prevalent and causes considerable disability, thus gravely burdening the global economy. Irreversible loss of hair cells is a main cause of sensorineural hearing loss, and currently, the only relatively effective clinical treatments are limited to digital hearing equipment like cochlear implants and hearing aids, but these are of limited benefit in patients. It is therefore urgent to understand the mechanisms of damage repair in order to develop new neuroprotective strategies. At present, how to promote the regeneration of functional hair cells is a key scientific question in the field of hearing research. Multiple signaling pathways and transcriptional factors trigger the activation of hair cell progenitors and ensure the maturation of newborn hair cells, and in this article, we first review the principal mechanisms underlying hair cell reproduction. We then further discuss therapeutic strategies involving the co-regulation of multiple signaling pathways in order to induce effective functional hair cell regeneration after degeneration, and we summarize current achievements in hair cell regeneration. Lastly, we discuss potential future approaches, such as small molecule drugs and gene therapy, which might be applied for regenerating functional hair cells in the clinic.
Infant, Newborn
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Humans
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Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner/physiology*
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Ear, Inner/physiology*
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Hair Cells, Auditory/physiology*
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Regeneration/genetics*
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Stem Cells
2.Potential therapeutic effects of dipyridamole in the severely ill patients with COVID-19.
Xiaoyan LIU ; Zhe LI ; Shuai LIU ; Jing SUN ; Zhanghua CHEN ; Min JIANG ; Qingling ZHANG ; Yinghua WEI ; Xin WANG ; Yi-You HUANG ; Yinyi SHI ; Yanhui XU ; Huifang XIAN ; Fan BAI ; Changxing OU ; Bei XIONG ; Andrew M LEW ; Jun CUI ; Rongli FANG ; Hui HUANG ; Jincun ZHAO ; Xuechuan HONG ; Yuxia ZHANG ; Fuling ZHOU ; Hai-Bin LUO
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 2020;10(7):1205-1215
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome, hypercoagulability, hypertension, and multiorgan dysfunction. Effective antivirals with safe clinical profile are urgently needed to improve the overall prognosis. In an analysis of a randomly collected cohort of 124 patients with COVID-19, we found that hypercoagulability as indicated by elevated concentrations of D-dimers was associated with disease severity. By virtual screening of a U.S. FDA approved drug library, we identified an anticoagulation agent dipyridamole (DIP) , which suppressed SARS-CoV-2 replication . In a proof-of-concept trial involving 31 patients with COVID-19, DIP supplementation was associated with significantly decreased concentrations of D-dimers ( < 0.05), increased lymphocyte and platelet recovery in the circulation, and markedly improved clinical outcomes in comparison to the control patients. In particular, all 8 of the DIP-treated severely ill patients showed remarkable improvement: 7 patients (87.5%) achieved clinical cure and were discharged from the hospitals while the remaining 1 patient (12.5%) was in clinical remission.