A Combinatorial Approach to Protect Sensory Tissue

As we know, a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent, Cisplatin, is very effective in treating malignant tumors. Often, however, patients experience irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus. The percentage of patients suffering from Cisplatin ototoxicity is between 11 percent and 97 percent with an average incidence of 62 percent of adult patients, and 60 percent of pediatric patients being affected overall (Chirtes and Albu, 2014).

A decrease in ototoxicity of these lifesaving drugs is a major area of investigation in oncology, otolaryngology, and hearing research. Several potential otoprotective agents have been investigated but none have received full approval by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. Febles et al (2022) studied the effects of an otoprotective treatment that was comprised of an antioxidant, a p53 inhibitor, and a neurotrophic.

In-vitro and ex vivo findings in rats demonstrated that with the three agents in combination as an otoprotective, Cisplatin-induced hair cell damage, death, and spiral ganglion fiber loss were significantly reduced.

The authors conclude and recommend an immediate local administration of the cocktail may promise clinical prevention of Cisplatin-induced sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus.

References

Chirtes F, Albu S. (2014) Prevention and restoration of hearing loss associated with use of Cisplatin. Biomed Res Int (925485):1–9.

Febles NK, Bauer MA, Ding B, Zhu X ,Gallant ND, Frisina RD. (2022). A combinatorial approach to protect sensory tissue against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Hear Res (415) 108430:1–11.