Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder was treated with gene therapy for the first time at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England. 18-month-old Opal Sandy, who had been suffering from the disorder since birth, began to hear almost normally after a 16-minute gene therapy, where a working copy of the OTOF gene, which produces the protein called otoferlin, was injected into his ear.
Auditory neuropathy is known as a hearing disorder in which the inner ear successfully detects sound, but there is a problem in sending the information to the brain.
As part of the trial studies carried out at the hospital, hearing-impaired children from Spain and the USA will receive a similar treatment, and their conditions will be monitored for 5 years.
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