Scientists Grow Working Salivary Gland Tissue From Stem Cells, Offering Hope for Severe Dry Mouth
University at Buffalo researchers grew miniature salivary glands from human stem cells that functioned after transplant into mice, a step toward treating severe dry mouth from cancer therapy and autoimmune disease.
Researchers at the University at Buffalo have grown miniature salivary glands from human stem cells — and shown they can survive and function after being transplanted into mice. The work, led by SUNY Distinguished Professor Stelios Andreadis, is an early but promising step toward treating people with severe, lasting dry mouth, according to University at Buffalo.
Built from ordinary skin or blood cells
The team started with human pluripotent stem cells, which can be derived from accessible adult cells like skin or blood. By guiding those cells through the same developmental stages a salivary gland naturally goes through, the researchers produced progenitor cells that organized themselves into small, three-dimensional organoids — complete with the different cell types a real gland needs to produce, move, and release saliva.
Surviving — and integrating — inside a living body
Collaborators at the University of Missouri transplanted the lab-grown organoids into immunodeficient mice to see whether they'd hold up outside a dish. More than 40 days later, the organoids had survived, integrated into the existing gland tissue, and developed the internal channels saliva would normally flow through.
Still years from helping patients
Severe dry mouth, or xerostomia, is a common and often permanent side effect of radiation therapy for head and neck cancers, and it also affects people with autoimmune conditions like Sjögren's syndrome. Andreadis's team cautions that human applications are still a long way off, with more work needed to refine the process and figure out the best timing for transplantation. The findings were published in Nature Communications.
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