Researchers discover gene that causes deafness

Public release date: 30-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Katie Pence katie.pence@uc.edu 513-558-4561 University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center

CINCINNATIResearchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have found a new genetic mutation responsible for deafness and hearing loss associated with Usher syndrome type 1.

These findings, published in the Sept. 30 advance online edition of the journal Nature Genetics, could help researchers develop new therapeutic targets for those at risk for this syndrome.

Partners in the study included the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Kentucky.

Usher syndrome is a genetic defect that causes deafness, night-blindness and a loss of peripheral vision through the progressive degeneration of the retina.

"In this study, researchers were able to pinpoint the gene which caused deafness in Usher syndrome type 1 as well as deafness that is not associated with the syndrome through the genetic analysis of 57 humans from Pakistan and Turkey," says Zubair Ahmed, PhD, assistant professor of ophthalmology who conducts research at Cincinnati Children's and is the lead investigator on this study.

Ahmed says that a protein, called CIB2, which binds to calcium within a cell, is associated with deafness in Usher syndrome type 1 and non-syndromic hearing loss.

"To date, mutations affecting CIB2 are the most common and prevalent genetic cause of non-syndromic hearing loss in Pakistan," he says. "However, we have also found another mutation of the protein that contributes to deafness in Turkish populations.

"In animal models, CIB2 is found in the mechanosensory stereocilia of the inner earhair cells, which respond to fluid motion and allow hearing and balance, and in retinal photoreceptor cells, which convert light into electrical signals in the eye, making it possible to see," says Saima Riazuddin, PhD, assistant professor in UC's department of otolaryngology who conducts research at Cincinnati Children's and is co-lead investigator on the study.

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Researchers discover gene that causes deafness