- Chen, J-R;
- Tang, Z-H;
- Zheng, J;
- Shi, H-S;
- Ding, J;
- Qian, X-D;
- Zhang, C;
- Chen, J-L;
- Wang, C-C;
- Li, L;
- Chen, J-Z;
- Yin, S-K;
- Shao, J-Z;
- Huang, T-S;
- Chen, P;
- Guan, M-X;
- Wang, J-F
Deafness or hearing loss is a major issue in human health. Inner ear hair cells are the main sensory receptors responsible for hearing. Defects in hair cells are one of the major causes of deafness. A combination of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology with genome-editing technology may provide an attractive cell-based strategy to regenerate hair cells and treat hereditary deafness in humans. Here, we report the generation of iPSCs from members of a Chinese family carrying MYO15A c.4642G>A and c.8374G>A mutations and the induction of hair cell-like cells from those iPSCs. The compound heterozygous MYO15A mutations resulted in abnormal morphology and dysfunction of the derived hair cell-like cells. We used a CRISPR/Cas9 approach to genetically correct the MYO15A mutation in the iPSCs and rescued the morphology and function of the derived hair cell-like cells. Our data demonstrate the feasibility of generating inner ear hair cells from human iPSCs and the functional rescue of gene mutation-based deafness by using genetic correction.