Stem cells and cell lines from the human auditory organ: applications, hurdles and bottlenecks in the development of regenerative therapies for deafness

The development of any stem-cell-based therapy (and a potential one for deafness is no exception) relies on the generation of the necessary tools: ‘cell drugs’ that can be safely manufactured for their clinical application. An increasing body of work has focussed on the identification, in animal models, of potential stem cell sources that could have an application for regenerative therapy in the auditory organ. A still more circumscribed effort – owing to ethical and technical difficulties – aims to obtain the actual potential therapeutic candidates (i.e. stem cells of human origin). A recently isolated population of human fetal auditory stem cells could become an ideal model for some of the challenges lying ahead regarding cochlear stem cell purification, expansion and maintenance.