August 9, 2007

SIU Med School Receives NIH Grant to Study Drug-Induced

Hearing Loss

A faculty member at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield has been awarded a five-year federal grant from the National Institutes of Health for the study of developing an amino acid, D-methionine, as a method of protection against hearing loss induced by aminoglycoside antibiotics.  The total budget for the grant is $1,941,684.

Although most antibiotics do not cause hearing loss as a side effect, aminoglycoside antibiotics, which are used to treat moderate to severe infections or infections caused by resistant strains of bacteria, can cause permanent hearing loss and sometimes kidney damage.  The hearing loss occurs in about one-third of the patients who use these drugs for an extended period, such as cystic fibrosis patients.  The grant funds basic research that will determine the optimal dosage of D-methionine and test for the antibiotic’s therapeutic action.  This study will lay the ground work for later clinical trials of the drug which could start in two to three years.

Principal investigator for the project is Kathleen C. M. Campbell, Ph.D., professor of otolaryngology head and neck surgery and director of the division’s audiology research.  Others at SIU involved in the study include Morris D. Cooper, Ph.D., professor and chair of medical microbiology, immunology and cell biology; Dr. Leonard P. Rybak, Ph.D., professor and distinguished scholar of otolaryngology head and neck surgery; Dr. Nancy M. Khardori, Ph.D., professor and chief of infectious diseases; Larry Hughes, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and surgery, and researcher Robert Meech.

Campbell is the inventor for various patents and patent applications related to methionine, which are licensed to Molecular Therapeutics.  D-methionine is now being tested in clinical trials for other clinical applications.  Campbell recently received three U.S. patents and 33 international patents for discovering that an amino acid present in D-methionine is effective in reducing hearing loss from loud and long-term noise exposure in animals.

Campbell joined SIU’s faculty in 1989 starting the School’s audiology program before turning to full-time research.  She earned her doctoral degree at the University of Iowa (1989) and master’s at the University of South Dakota (1977) and bachelor’s at South Dakota State University (1973).

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