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MicroRNAs sound off
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* Corresponding author: Garrett A Soukup gasoukup@creighton.edu
1 Department of Oral Biology, Creighton University School of Dentistry, California Plaza, Omaha, Nebraska 68178, USA
2 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Creighton University School of Medicine, California Plaza, Omaha, Nebraska 68178, USA
Genome Medicine 2009, 1:59 doi:10.1186/gm59
Published: 8 June 2009Abstract
The message is loud and clear. MicroRNA-96, one in a cluster of three related neurosensory microRNAs, is crucial to the development and maintenance of inner ear hair cells and hearing in mice and humans. Two recent studies show that mutations in the critical seed region of the microRNA underlie the cause of hair cell degeneration and progressive hearing loss. Other recent reports reveal the general requirement of microRNAs for sensory epithelial development and maintenance in Dicer knockout mouse ear. The challenge begins to determine whether microRNAs will resonate as therapeutic agents or target molecules to preserve or restore hearing.