The application of Mir-183 family and mesenchymal stem cells: A possibility for restoring hearing loss

Abstract

Hearing loss as one of the most common disabilities approximately over 5% of the world's population – 360 million people – has disabling hearing loss (328 million adults and 32 million children). Recent developments in stem cell technology provide new opportunities for the treatment of deafness. miRNAs are essential factors of an extensively conserved posttranscriptional process controlling gene expression at mRNA level. Various biological processes such as growth and differentiation are regulated by miRNAs. In this review paper we have discussed about the application of miR-183 family and mesenchymal stem cells as a possibility for restoring hearing loss. In this regards, the web of Science and PubMed databases were searched using the Endnote software for the publications about the application of miR-183 family and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to study hearing loss published from 2000 to 2016. The miR-183 family (miR-183, miR-96, and miR-182) is expressed abundantly in sensory cells in inner ear. miR-183 family is significant for the development and persistence of auditory neurons and hair cell. These four genes, i.e. Sox2, Notch1, Jag1, and Hes1, are potentially the targets of miR-183 family. In studies on animal models such as mouse and zebrafish, the time of Atoh1 expression in the hair cells was found to be the E12/5-E14/5 day, and miR-183 family was reported to begin to express on the E14/5 day. Use of human MSCs in differentiating into hair cells has been investigated, demonstrating that MSCs have neuroregenerative capacity. Cell therapy-targeting regeneration of the auditory neurons and hair cell may therefore be a powerful strategy to cure hearing loss that cannot be reversed by current therapies. A combination of the MSCs, specific growth factors and miR-183 cluster (96-182-183) can increase the potential to differentiate into the auditory neurons and hair cell.