Grant: Project Grant

Radiation therapy is an essential treatment for many people with head and neck cancers. However, it often unintentionally damages the salivary glands (SG), which produce saliva needed for speaking, swallowing, and maintaining oral health. The major saliva-producing cells, called the acinar cells, are destroyed by radiation and replaced with scar tissue. This causes chronic dry mouth (xerostomia), leading to difficulty eating, weight loss, dental problems, and a reduced quality of life. Unfortunately, there is currently no permanent cure for this condition. Our proposal aims to build a realistic laboratory model of the human SG using an advanced 3D bioprinting technology. This model will allow us to study how radiation causes damage and to develop strategies to prevent or reverse it. First, we will use a custom-made 3D gel-like material to grow and organize acinar cells into small, functional organ-like structures (organoids) that will mimic natural salivary tissue. Then, using an automated printing system, we will engineer the surrounding supportive cells and tissue framework, then combine them with the saliva-producing organoids to create a complete, human-like SG model. This model will then be exposed to radiation therapy in the lab to understand how damage develops and match the results with how patients get affected after radiation. A major strength of this approach is that our bioprinting system can produce around 50 tissue-like models within just a few hours. This makes it possible to study many conditions in parallel, thereby fast-tracking discovery. Using this novel platform, we aim to better understand how radiation damages the human SG and hope that it will pave the way for new treatments that can restore saliva production and improve quality of life for cancer patients.