Health
Children with total deafness regain hearing after ‘groundbreaking’ gene therapy: ‘Like a miracle’
Five children who were born completely deaf have had some reversal of hearing loss after receiving a “groundbreaking” gene therapy.
The clinical trial, which was co-led by Mass Eye and Ear in Boston and the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, was the first in the world to apply gene therapy to children in both ears, according to the researchers.
The research has just been published in Nature Medicine on June 5.
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In addition to regaining their hearing, the children participating in the trial — who ranged in age from 1 to 11 years old — were also able to identify the origins and locations of sounds, even in noisy environments, researchers said.
This was a follow-up to an earlier trial that began in Dec. 2022, in which the research team successfully performed the gene therapy in just one ear. This new study showed that treating both ears led to even greater benefits.
Five children who were born completely deaf have had their hearing loss reversed after receiving a “groundbreaking” gene therapy. (Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University)
All the children in the study had a hereditary form of deafness called DFNB9, which is caused by mutations in the OTOF gene.
The condition occurs when the OTOF gene is unable to produce a protein called otoferlin, which is essential for transmitting sound signals from the ear to the brain.
As a result, the children could not hear or speak.
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“The children were chosen because they would benefit most from early intervention of gene therapy, especially in speech acquisition,” study author Zheng-Yi Chen, DPhil, an associate scientist in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“From a safety standpoint, however, it is more risky for children.”
How the procedure works
During the “minimally invasive” surgical procedure, the doctors administered an injection of the human OTOF gene into the children’s inner ears.
The children remained in the hospital for around seven to 10 days for observation.
“After four weeks, the kids showed hearing perception in tests, and then gradually they gained the ability to speak,” Chen said.
Dr. Yilai Shu is shown communicating with a young patient at the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University. (Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University)
Within the families, response to sound was noticed within two to three weeks.
“All five patients have restoration of hearing, speech perception improvements, and sound source perception in noisy environments,” Chen said.
The participants experienced only low-grade adverse effects, such as fever and vomiting.
“This is the first time in history that hearing loss is being reversed by gene therapy.”
“There were no serious adverse effects,” he said. “They all recovered without any intervention.”
The gene therapy is intended to be a one-time treatment and will not need to be repeated, the researchers said, although the children will likely require speech therapy.
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Until now, there has not been any single treatment for hearing loss, other than cochlear implants, according to researcher Yilai Shu M.D., PhD, director of the Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Genetic Hearing Loss at Fudan Hospital in Shanghai.
“This is the first time in history that hearing loss is being reversed by gene therapy,” Shu told Fox News Digital. “And, of course, we believe this will have a profound impact on children’s lives.”
Dr. Yilai Shu’s team is pictured working in the lab of the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University. (Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University)
Chang Yiyi, a mother in Shanghai whose 3-year-old son, Zhu Yangyang, participated in the trial, spoke to Fox News Digital about the experience.
“When Zhu couldn’t speak at 2 years old and didn’t have a response to sound, we realized there was a problem,” she said.
After hearing tests, it was determined that Yiyi’s son had total deafness.
“It was unbelievable — the best feeling. It was like a miracle.”
“He would get very frustrated because he couldn’t understand, couldn’t speak, couldn’t hear,” she said.
Twenty-three days after receiving the gene therapy, the boy first responded to someone calling out to him.
“It was unbelievable — the best feeling,” Yiyi told Fox News Digital. “It was like a miracle.”
“Now he can say ‘Mommy’ and ‘I want’ and some simple sentences.”
Dr. Yilai Shu (center) is pictured in the operating room at the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University. (Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University)
Approximately 430 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss, including 34 million children, according to the World Health Organization.
More than 50% of hearing loss cases are the result of genetics.
Gene therapy is promising but limitations exist, expert says
Dr. Amy Sarow, the Michigan-based lead audiologist at Soundly, a hearing health care marketplace, noted that gene therapy has had some success in the treatment of cancer and eye disease, along with other emerging areas.
“It is exciting to think about how gene therapy could impact millions of individuals with hearing loss worldwide,” Sarow, who was not involved in the experimental gene therapy, told Fox News Digital.
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“However, it is essential to emphasize that there are many causes of hearing loss, and one type of gene therapy will not be right for every type.”
Even among genetic causes of deafness, different genes may cause abnormalities or dysfunction that affect different auditory pathways, according to Sarow.
“Thus, development of specific treatment interventions is dependent on causality and will still take time to develop.”
Dr. Yilai Shu examines a young patient at the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University. (Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University)
Additionally, Sarow noted, a “reversal” of hearing loss does not mean that an individual will have normal hearing ability fully restored.
“The first three years of life are very important to language acquisition, and although these children would be behind their normal-hearing peers (having spent the first few years of life profoundly deaf), they would still have the possibility to ‘catch up’ to some degree,” she said.
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“Research tells us that the younger the intervention, the better for potential language development.”
As with any intervention, there can be risks with gene therapy. “One potential risk is that treatment may not be successful in every case,” Sarow said.
“Another potential risk is that the targeted gene therapy may not work in the targeted region.”
What’s next?
The next step is to follow the trial patients for a longer time period to ensure that the positive results are stable, Shu said.
Until now, there has not been any single treatment for hearing loss, other than cochlear implants, according to one of the researchers. (iStock)
Based on the results of the first study, the researchers expect that the patients’ hearing abilities will continue to improve over time.
“Then we want to expand to older patients, and gauge how the treatment works for aging adults,” he said.
“Ultimately, we want the patient to have a choice about which treatment option they want to go with.”
The researchers also plan to start the process of seeking FDA approval to bring the gene therapy to the U.S.
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“We are working to bring this to people outside China, including the U.S., as quickly as possible,” Shu Fox News Digital.
The researchers also hope to extend this type of gene therapy to treat other types of deafness in the future.
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Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. New research shows one group getting hit the hardest – those without a college degree.
A recent study from the American Cancer Society analyzed data from over 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023.
While death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed.
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For young adults with a high school education or less, the mortality rate rose from 4.0 to 5.2 per 100,000 people, while the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree stayed flat, at approximately 2.7 per 100,000.
This does not mean that a degree offers some kind of biological protection, researchers cautioned.
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. (iStock)
The difference is likely driven by the conditions in which people live and work, which often correlate with education levels, the researchers noted.
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The study suggests that the higher death rates are likely driven by differences in the prevalence of risk factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and diet, which are “known to be elevated among children and young adults with lower [socioeconomic status].”
Because the study relied on death certificates, researchers couldn’t say exactly why college graduates had better outcomes.
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes. (iStock)
Certificates typically list the cause of death, age, race and education level, but they do not include a person’s full medical history.
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Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes.
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Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group, according to recent statistics.
While colorectal cancer death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed. (iStock)
Because the disease is highly treatable when caught early, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45 in 2021.
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Common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days, according to the American Cancer Society.
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Other signs that warrant seeing a doctor include blood in the stool or a persistent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom but being unable to go.
The research was published in JAMA Oncology.
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A young woman who started vaping at the age of 15 has been given just 18 months to live — after being diagnosed with lung cancer in her early 20s.
Kayley Boda, 22, of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, was engaging in heavy vaping on a regular basis when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025, news agency SWNS reported.
The retail assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection — until she began coughing up blood.
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After seven biopsies, Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy — and in February 2026, got the all-clear, the same source reported.
Two months later, though, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining. Now she’s been given 18 months to live.
Kayley Boda, 22, is shown in the hospital. She started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in January 2025, she said. She had been vaping since the age of 15. (SWNS)
The young woman has now issued a warning to others to be aware of the dangers of vaping.
Boda said she smoked a bit as a young teenager. She took up vaping after that.
Then, “a few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus,” as SWNS reported.
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“Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. … Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an X-ray and found a shadow on my lung,” she added.
“They told me they were 99% sure, [since I was] so young, that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back, and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.”
Boda said she was “very naive” before her diagnosis and thought that “something like this would never happen to me.”
She said that she had surgery to remove half of her right lung.
“After the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up. I was throwing up blood. I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
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She said that when she got the “all clear [in Feb. 2026], it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.”
She added, “I’m 22. This isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.”
“Stay off the vapes because they will catch up with you.”
She blames her cancer on vaping, she said.
“My symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family,” she said. “I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mom stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes,” she continued, “because they will catch up with you.”
When doctors did an X-ray, they found a shadow on Boda’s right lung. She was later diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
She said she’d been using reusable vapes since the age of 15 and began using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.
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In November 2024, when she developed a rash all over her body, doctors said it could have been due to shingles, chicken pox or scabies, she told SWNS.
‘Nothing worked’
“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” Boda said. “It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”
A few months after that, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with “grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it,” she said. When the coughing continued, she visited the doctor’s office, but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection, she also said.
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It wasn’t until March 2025 that she began coughing up bright red blood. At that point, doctors gave her a chest X-ray and told her they’d found a shadow on her lower right lung.
Over the next four months, she had seven biopsies as doctors took samples from the “shadow.” In August, when she went to get the results, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.
Boda is shown in the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
In September 2025, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes. During the surgery, doctors upstaged her cancer from stage one to stage three after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes, she said.
Following the surgery, Boda was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk all over again.
“The oncologist said this is so rare.”
After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was given the all clear, leaving her feeling elated.
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However, just a month after that, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion — a build-up of fluid in the lungs. She had the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.
“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said, as SWNS reported.
Increasingly, vacation hot spots are enforcing strict bans on the use of e-cigarettes in public venues. (iStock)
Boda claimed that doctors were unable to pin her cancer to a specific cause — but told her that smoking and vaping definitely didn’t help.
Since her diagnosis, she has stopped and is urging others to stop, too.
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She’s hoping to raise the thousands of dollars needed for treatment to try to prolong her life, she said.
Last year, Fox News Digital reported on the case of a Pennsylvania woman, 26, who said she vaped for just one year before her lungs collapsed. She was 22 when she took up the habit, she said in an interview.
“Everybody warned me about it, but I didn’t listen — I wish that I did,” she said.
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Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and program director at Recover Together Bend in Oregon, told Fox News Digital at that time that signs of collapsed lungs include sharp chest or shoulder pain, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
Lung issues are just one of the many health issues linked to vaping, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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The key to feeling better in a fast, overstimulated world might be surprisingly simple: Live a little more like your grandparents.
A growing social media trend, dubbed “nonnamaxxing,” draws inspiration from the slower, more intentional rhythms associated with an Italian grandmother.
The lifestyle is often linked to activities like preparing home-cooked meals, spending time outdoors and making meaningful connections.
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“Nonnamaxxing is a 2026 trend that embraces the slower, more intentional lifestyle of an Italian grandmother (a Nonna). Think cooking from scratch, long family meals, daily walks, gardening and less screen time,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
Stepping away from screens and toward real-world interaction can have measurable benefits, according to California-based psychotherapist Laurie Singer.
“We know that interacting with others in person, rather than spending time on screens, significantly improves mental health,” she told Fox News Digital, adding that social media often fuels comparison and lowers self-esteem.
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Living more like previous generations isn’t purely driven by nostalgia. Cooking meals from scratch, for example, has been linked to better nutrition and more mindful eating patterns.
Adopting traditional mealtime habits can improve diet quality and support both physical and mental health, especially when meals are shared regularly with others, Palinski-Wade noted.
One longevity expert stresses that staying healthy isn’t just about food — it’s also about joy and community. (iStock)
There’s also a psychological benefit to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time. Anxiety often stems from unfinished or avoided tasks, Singer noted, and engaging in hands-on activities can counteract that.
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“Nonnamaxxing encourages us to be present around a task, like gardening, baking or knitting, or just taking a mindful walk, that delivers something ‘real,’” she said.
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Palinski-Wade cautions against turning the trend into another source of pressure, noting that a traditional “nonna” lifestyle often assumes a different pace of life.
The key, she said, is adapting the mindset, not replicating it perfectly.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
The goal is to reintroduce small, intentional moments that make you feel better.
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That might mean prioritizing a few shared meals each week, taking a walk without your phone or setting aside time for a simple hobby, the expert recommended.
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Singer added, “Having a positive place to escape to, through whatever activities speak to us and make us happy, isn’t generational – it’s human.”
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