No abstract

c-Myb is a transcription factor that plays a key role in cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. It has been reported that c-Myb is expressed within the chicken otic placode, but whether c-Myb exists in the mammalian cochlea, and how it exerts its effects, has not been explored yet. Here, we investigated the expression of c-Myb in the postnatal mouse cochlea and HEI-OC1 cells and found that c-Myb was expressed in the hair cells (HCs) of mouse cochlea as well as in cultured HEI-OC1 cells. Next, we demonstrated that c-Myb expression was decreased in response to neomycin treatment in both cochlear HCs and HEI-OC1 cells, suggesting an otoprotective role for c-Myb. We then knocked down c-Myb expression with shRNA transfection in HEI-OC1 cells and found that c-Myb knockdown decreased cell viability, increased expression of pro-apoptotic factors, and enhanced cell apoptosis after neomycin insult. Mechanistic studies revealed that c-Myb knockdown increased cellular levels of reactive oxygen species and decreased Bcl-2 expression, both of which are likely to be responsible for the increased sensitivity of c-Myb knockdown cells to neomycin. This study provides evidence that c-Myb might serve as a new target for the prevention of aminoglycoside-induced HC loss.

Aminoglycosides are ototoxic to the cochlear hair cells, and mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the major mechanisms behind ototoxic drug-induced hair cell death. TRMU (tRNA 5-methylaminomethyl-2-thiouridylate methyltransferase) is a mitochondrial protein that participates in mitochondrial tRNA modifications, but the role of TRMU in aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity remains to be elucidated. In this study, we took advantage of the HEI-OC-1 cell line to investigate the role of TRMU in aminoglycoside-induced cell death. We found that TRMU is expressed in both hair cells and HEI-OC-1 cells, and its expression is significantly decreased after 24 h neomycin treatment. We then downregulated TRMU expression with siRNA and found that cell death and apoptosis were significantly increased after neomycin injury. Furthermore, when we down-regulated TRMU expression, we observed significantly increased mitochondrial dysfunction and increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) after neomycin injury, suggesting that TRMU regulates mitochondrial function and ROS levels. Lastly, the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine rescued the mitochondrial dysfunction and cell apoptosis that was induced by TRMU downregulation, suggesting that ROS accumulation contributed to the increased aminoglycosides sensitivity of HEI-OC-1 cells after TRMU downregulation. This study provides evidence that TRMU might be a new therapeutic target for the prevention of aminoglycoside-induced hair cell death.