Researchers at Gangnam Severance Hospital have established a 3D organoid culturing method that simulates the shape and function of salivary glands for patient-specific salivary gland cancer treatment.
Salivary glands aid digestion and vocalization and secrete saliva that maintains the human body's immunity. If salivary gland secretion falls, normal conversation is difficult, hindering digestion and other physical activities and making most patients with salivary gland cancer experience a low quality of life.
Researchers had tried to overcome the decline in salivary glands but stopped at developing drugs that stimulate salivary secretion (poilocarpine) and oral solvents relieving dry mouth. In addition, three-dimensional culturing still has limitations using stem cells forming salivary glands, especially those using adult epithelial stem cells. Therefore, there have been no reports on precise 3D models that included all the constituent cells of salivary tissue, according to the hospital.
The three researchers, led by Professor Lim Jae-yeol of the ENT Department, confirmed that they could maintain organoids derived from salivary gland adult stem cells for four months for humans and eight months for mice.
The researchers furthermore confirmed that the maintained organoids have no genetic variation during the culture period and are composed of various cells that form salivary gland tissues while having the function of salivary glands. Moreover, they exhibited different characteristics of the three major salivary glands -- parotid, submandibular, and sublingual -- also evident in organoids.
By applying this method to salivary gland cancer tissue, the researchers succeeded in culturing cancer organoids that exhibit the different characteristics of three types of salivary gland cancer. Later, they used these organoids to create a diagnostic screening platform technology that can predict different therapeutic responses for these three forms of salivary gland cancer.
"Using organoid cultures and our screening platform will make it possible to develop diagnostic and therapeutic technologies for incurable salivary gland disease and patient-specific regenerative medicine using stem cells." Professor Lim said.
The study, "Salivary gland organoid culture maintains distinct glandular properties of murine and human major salivary gland,” was published in Nature Communications.