Thousands and thousands of persons are affected by continual dry mouth, or xerostomia, an agonizing facet impact of broken salivary glands. Whereas chemotherapy and radiation remedy for head and neck most cancers are the most typical causes of this, growing older, sure drugs and different components, together with diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer’s illness and HIV/AIDS, may also trigger continual dry mouth. At present, there isn’t any treatment for it.
Mayo Clinic researchers have established the world’s first biobank of human salivary gland tissue-organoids that opens the door to analysis to discover a treatment.
“This distinctive biobank useful resource overcomes a significant barrier we have confronted within the discipline, specifically: restricted entry to standardized salivary specimens fitted to salivary gland regeneration analysis. This assortment offers a basis for regenerative remedy improvement, particularly for radiation-induced continual dry mouth,” says Nagarajan Kannan, Ph.D., lead creator of the research revealed in npj Regenerative Medication. Dr. Kannan can also be the director of the Mayo Clinic Stem Cell and Most cancers Biology Laboratory.
Practically 70% of sufferers with head and neck most cancers who’re present process radiation remedy expertise everlasting harm to their salivary glands. Individuals with this situation expertise diminished high quality of life from a relentless feeling like cotton is lining their mouths. Apart from being uncomfortable, continual dry mouth can result in difficulties with chewing, tasting, talking and swallowing. It can also trigger tooth decay.
“Power dry mouth can prolong lengthy after radiation therapies are full. It is among the many high issues I hear from sufferers with head and neck most cancers. Sadly, there aren’t many therapeutics out there commercially for these sufferers,” says co-author Jeffrey Janus, M.D., an ear, nostril and throat specialist at Mayo Clinic in Florida.
One promising avenue of analysis is the cultivation of uncommon regenerative cells to better numbers that may assist folks sometime heal and develop new, wholesome salivary gland cells. The biobank consists of specimens collected from 208 donors.
From this repository, researchers have already discovered biomarkers for mature, saliva-producing cells, and with the assistance of a high-resolution protein map, they’ve recognized the potential tissue origin of uncommon, self-renewing salivary cells.
The analysis staff additionally developed a radiation harm mannequin, which, paired with the biobank, offers an built-in platform to find new, personalised regenerative biotherapeutics.
This can be a collaboration between Mayo Clinic Heart for Regenerative Biotherapeutics, Division of Laboratory Medication and Pathology and Division of Otolaryngology.
Extra data:
Syed Mohammed Musheer Aalam et al, Institution of salivary tissue-organoid biorepository: characterizing salivary gland stem/progenitor cells and novel differentiation marker PSMA/FOLH1, npj Regenerative Medication (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41536-025-00410-5
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First salivary gland regenerative biobank developed to fight continual dry mouth (2025, Could 21)
retrieved 21 Could 2025
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