Methods for the prevention and treatment of hearing loss
Acquired hearing loss due to chemotherapy or noise exposure is a major health problem, and Cisplatin chemotherapy often causes permanent hearing loss in cancer patients. However, there are no FDA-approved drugs for the treatment or prevention of Cisplatin- or noise-induced hearing loss. In one aspect, use of Niclosamide, Ingenol, and Elesclomol as an active agent to treat a hearing impairment and to prevent a hearing impairment, and methods of treating and/or preventing hearing impairments or disorders using the compositions are disclosed. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.
1 . A method to prevent ear hair cell loss caused by a chemotherapeutic agent comprising: administering to a mammal in need thereof an effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition containing a therapeutically active agent, wherein the therapeutically active agent is Niclosamide, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof to prevent ear hair cell loss caused by the administration of the chemotherapeutic agent, wherein the chemotherapeutic agent is Cisplatin.