Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Waldhaus, Jörg
• Cimerman, Jelka
• Gohlke, Henning
• Ehrich, Mathias
• Müller, Marcus
• Löwenheim, Hubert
• Singh, Shree Ram

Titel

Stemness of the organ of Corti relates to the epigenetic status of Sox2 enhancers

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2012-05, Vol.7 (5), p.e36066-e36066

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In the adult mammalian auditory epithelium, the organ of Corti, loss of sensory hair cells results in permanent hearing loss. The underlying cause for the lack of regenerative response is the depletion of otic progenitors in the cell pool of the sensory epithelium. Here, we show that an increase in the sequence-specific methylation of the otic Sox2 enhancers NOP1 and NOP2 is correlated with a reduced self-renewal potential in vivo and in vitro; additionally, the degree of methylation of NOP1 and NOP2 is correlated with the dedifferentiation potential of postmitotic supporting cells into otic stem cells. Thus, the stemness the organ of Corti is related to the epigenetic status of the otic Sox2 enhancers. These observations validate the continued exploration of treatment strategies for dedifferentiating or reprogramming of differentiated supporting cells into progenitors to regenerate the damaged organ of Corti.