Cell-based therapy for generating salivary glands is a promising future therapy for patients suffering from dry mouth, Sjögren’s syndrome or the side effects of radiotherapy for head and neck cancers. In Cell Reports, researchers used a conditional blastocyst complementation (CBC) technique to generate fully functional salivary glands from pluripotent stem cells in mice. Given that CBC is based on the creation of a new organ in a vacant niche, the investigators first had to develop a mouse model lacking salivary glands. After showing that the Foxa2 lineage contributes to salivary gland development in mice and that Fgfr2 is critical for salivary gland primordia formation, the researchers created Foxa2-driven Fgfr2 knockout mice that displayed a salivary gland agenesis phenotype. Injection of mouse donor pluripotent stem cells into the mouse blastocysts rescued this phenotype, resulting in mice that survived to adulthood with salivary glands of normal size, comparable to those of control mice. These findings could guide the development of future advanced cell-based therapies for salivary gland regeneration.

Original reference: Tanaka, J. et al. Cell Rep. 43, 114340 (2024)

对于患有口干、干燥综合征或头颈癌放射治疗副作用的患者来说，用于生成唾液腺的细胞疗法是一种很有前途的未来疗法。在《Cell Reports》中，研究人员使用条件囊胚互补 (CBC) 技术从小鼠的多能干细胞中生成功能齐全的唾液腺。鉴于 CBC 是基于在空缺的环境中创建新器官，研究人员首先必须开发一种缺乏唾液腺的小鼠模型。在证明 Foxa2 谱系有助于小鼠唾液腺发育并且 Fgfr2 对于唾液腺原基形成至关重要后，研究人员创建了 Foxa2 驱动的 Fgfr2 敲除小鼠，该小鼠表现出唾液腺发育不全表型。将小鼠供体多能干细胞注射到小鼠囊胚中可以挽救这种表型，使小鼠存活到成年，唾液腺大小正常，与对照小鼠相当。这些发现可以指导未来先进的基于细胞的唾液腺再生疗法的开发。

原始参考文献：Tanaka, J. et al.细胞报告 43, 114340 (2024)