Grant: Project Grant

Among the Canadian population, each year 4,000 new head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy treatment suffer from injured or destroyed salivary glands leading to permanent dry mouth (xerostomia). These patients suffer greatly due to discomfort in chewing and swallowing, tooth decay, sore throat, taste loss, and oral infections. While these patients can constantly sip water to reduce their discomfort a little, there are no curative treatments to date. The aim of our research is to offer these patients a practical and effective cure. Our research involves the use of a human cell extract (CE) which is collected by freezing and thawing the patient's own cells, thereby releasing their intracellular contents including molecular factors such as proteins and growth factors. Advantages of cell extract therapy includes reduced risk of immune rejection and thromboembolic complication, ease of obtaining cell extracts, long-term storage, and low cost of production. As human CE therapy is a novel technique, we would like to perform further testing in the following areas: #1) assessing its safety to repair salivary glands damaged by irradiation and reducing its cytotoxicity, and #2) substantially simplifying its mixture of molecules while enhancing its efficacy and biological activity. This research will be tested on human salivary biopsies and in mouse models with irradiated salivary glands. The potential impact of regenerating lost salivary tissues is enormous. We hope that through this research, we will be able to provide millions of patients worldwide with a curative therapy using a cell extract drawn from their own tissues to restore normal functions to their impaired salivary glands.