The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $2.5 million grant for research aimed at creating artificial salivary glands to treat xerostomia.
Xerostomia, or dry mouth, is an inevitable consequence of radiation treatment for head and neck cancers, according to the University of Delaware (UD), Newark, which will collaborate in the research. Other collaborators in the four-year project include Rice University and the Christiana Care Health System.
Head and neck cancer patients often undergo radiation as an early course of treatment, but such treatment often destroys the saliva-producing cells in the mouth. To date, current therapies for xerostomia have proved ineffective over the long term, according to the research team.
UD researchers have developed methods for isolating and growing salivary cells, which are responsible for water and enzyme production, in the lab prior to radiation. These cells form 3D secretory structures when cultured in biologically relevant hydrogels.
UD will develop hydrogels that will be used as instructive matrices to guide the salivary cells through morphogenesis processes and potentially organize them into functional salivary glands. Hydrogels can be "tuned" to match the structure and properties of the native tissues in salivary glands, increasing the potential for success.
UD physicians will culture a patient's cells prior to radiation treatment and then reimplant the salivary glands grown from the patients' own cells back into the mouth following treatment.
