Inducible, virus-free direct lineage reprogramming enhances scalable generation of human inner ear hair cell-like cells.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian inner ear sensory hair cells are highly sensitive to environmental stress and do not regenerate, making hearing loss progressive and permanent. The paucity and extreme inaccessibility of these cells hinder the development of regenerative and otoprotective strategies, Direct lineage reprogramming to generate large quantities of hair cell-like cells in vitro offers a promising approach to overcome these experimental bottlenecks. Previously, we identified four transcription factors-Six1, Atoh1, Pou4f3, and Gfi1 (SAPG)-capable of converting mouse embryonic fibroblasts, adult tail tip fibroblasts, and postnatal mouse supporting cells into induced hair cell-like cells through retroviral or lentiviral transduction (Menendez et al., 2020). Here, we developed a

SUBMITTER: Rainey RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11888184 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature