BioCentury
ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Inhibiting REST in hair cells to reduce hearing loss

June 29, 2018 10:53 PM UTC

In a Cell paper, a University of Iowa and NIH team showed that an inactive form of RE1-silencing transcription factor (REST; NRSF) is necessary for hearing and suggested that inhibiting REST in hair cells with histone deacetylases (HDACs) could help treat an inherited form of deafness.

In non-neuronal cells, REST inhibits expression of neuronal genes when complexed with HDAC. Cochlear hair cells express an isoform of REST, alternatively spliced from REST mRNA containing exon 4, which is inactive. However, the biological role of exon 4-containing REST remained unknown...