The chemical senses of taste and smell play a vital role in conveying information about ourselves and our environment. Tastes and smells can warn against danger and also contribute to the daily enjoyment of food, friends and family, and our surroundings. Over 12% of the US population is estimated to experience taste and smell (chemosensory) dysfunction. Yet, despite this high prevalence, long-term, effective treatments for these disorders have been largely elusive. Clinical successes in other sensory systems, including hearing and vision, have led to new hope for developments in the treatment of chemosensory disorders. To accelerate cures, we convened the “Identifying Treatments for Taste and Smell Disorders” conference, bringing together basic and translational sensory scientists, health care professionals, and patients to identify gaps in our current understanding of chemosensory dysfunction and next steps in a broad-based research strategy. Their suggestions for high-yield next steps were focused in 3 areas: increasing awareness and research capacity (e.g., patient advocacy), developing and enhancing clinical measures of taste and smell, and supporting new avenues of research into cellular and therapeutic approaches (e.g., developing human chemosensory cell lines, stem cells, and gene therapy approaches). These long-term strategies led to specific suggestions for immediate research priorities that focus on expanding our understanding of specific responses of chemosensory cells and developing valuable assays to identify and document cell development, regeneration, and function. Addressing these high-priority areas should accelerate the development of novel and effective treatments for taste and smell disorders.

中文翻译：

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确定味觉和嗅觉障碍的治疗方法：差距和机遇。

味觉和嗅觉的化学感觉在传达有关我们自己和环境的信息方面发挥着至关重要的作用。味道和气味可以警告危险，也有助于日常享受食物、朋友和家人以及我们周围的环境。据估计，超过 12% 的美国人患有味觉和嗅觉（化学感应）功能障碍。然而，尽管患病率很高，但对这些疾病的长期有效治疗在很大程度上仍难以实现。其他感觉系统（包括听力和视觉）的临床成功为化学感觉疾病治疗的发展带来了新的希望。为了加速治愈，我们召开了“确定味觉和嗅觉障碍的治疗方法”会议，将基础和转化感觉科学家、医疗保健专业人员和患者聚集在一起，以找出我们目前对化学感觉功能障碍的理解中的差距以及广泛基础上的后续步骤研究策略。他们对高产后续步骤的建议集中在三个领域：提高认识和研究能力（例如，患者倡导），开发和加强味觉和嗅觉的临床测量，以及支持细胞和治疗方法的新研究途径（例如，开发人类化学感应细胞系、干细胞和基因治疗方法）。这些长期策略为当前研究重点提出了具体建议，重点是扩大我们对化学感应细胞特定反应的理解，并开发有价值的测定方法来识别和记录细胞发育、再生和功能。解决这些高度优先领域应该加速开发针对味觉和嗅觉障碍的新颖有效的治疗方法。