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It's 2013 and the Tsuji team have once again blown all competition out of the park. They have now managed to engineer salivary and lachrymal glands using their "germ method", which are fully functional and connected to all surrounding structures and nerve endings!
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“People have done a lot of work with stem cells, but this is the first time I’ve seen transplantation of a whole [bioengineered] salivary gland,” said the University of Buffalo’s Olga Baker, an assistant professor of oral biology, who was not involved in the work. “To my knowledge, this is a first.”
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Much remains to be seen before lab-grown salivary and tear glands are ready for use in humans. For example, the cells that Tsuji’s team used to create these organ germs are not ideal for clinical use.
“To fully realize the practical clinical application of secretory gland regeneration, suitable cell sources must be identified,” said Hirayama. To that end, the team is working to see whether human embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells can be prodded to form functional glands in the lab. “We will need to identify cell sources from various tissue-derived stem cell populations isolated from patients who have the organ-inducible ability to reproduce the epithelial and mesenchymal interactions for organogenesis,” Hirayama added.
In addition, the clinical potential of the particular engraftment approach the team took must be evaluated in the context of both health and disease. Transplanting a lab-grown gland into diseased tissue, which is often subject to inflammation, will likely be more difficult than engrafting an organ germ into a healthy host. “Further investigation of the clinical application of these methods, including engraftment and recipient niches for organ regeneration, will contribute to the development of . . . gland regeneration therapy in humans,” Hirayama said.
Still, the study points the way to building replacement secretory glands for humans. And the bioengineering approach may be more widely applicable, said Hirayama, to not only other glands and sense organs, “but also endodermal endocrine organs, including the liver and pancreas.”
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“People have done a lot of work with stem cells, but this is the first time I’ve seen transplantation of a whole [bioengineered] salivary gland,” said the University of Buffalo’s Olga Baker, an assistant professor of oral biology, who was not involved in the work. “To my knowledge, this is a first.”
__________________________________________________ ______________
Much remains to be seen before lab-grown salivary and tear glands are ready for use in humans. For example, the cells that Tsuji’s team used to create these organ germs are not ideal for clinical use.
“To fully realize the practical clinical application of secretory gland regeneration, suitable cell sources must be identified,” said Hirayama. To that end, the team is working to see whether human embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells can be prodded to form functional glands in the lab. “We will need to identify cell sources from various tissue-derived stem cell populations isolated from patients who have the organ-inducible ability to reproduce the epithelial and mesenchymal interactions for organogenesis,” Hirayama added.
In addition, the clinical potential of the particular engraftment approach the team took must be evaluated in the context of both health and disease. Transplanting a lab-grown gland into diseased tissue, which is often subject to inflammation, will likely be more difficult than engrafting an organ germ into a healthy host. “Further investigation of the clinical application of these methods, including engraftment and recipient niches for organ regeneration, will contribute to the development of . . . gland regeneration therapy in humans,” Hirayama said.
Still, the study points the way to building replacement secretory glands for humans. And the bioengineering approach may be more widely applicable, said Hirayama, to not only other glands and sense organs, “but also endodermal endocrine organs, including the liver and pancreas.”
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