Salivary tissue-organoid biobanking preserves primitive salivary cells. Credit score: npj Regenerative Drugs (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41536-025-00410-5
Hundreds of thousands of persons are affected by persistent dry mouth, or xerostomia, an agonizing aspect impact of broken salivary glands. Whereas chemotherapy and radiation therapy for head and neck most cancers are the commonest causes of this, ageing, sure medicines and different elements, together with diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer’s illness and HIV/AIDS, can even trigger persistent dry mouth. At the moment, there isn’t any remedy for it.
Mayo Clinic researchers have established the world’s first biobank of human salivary gland tissue-organoids that opens the door to analysis to discover a remedy.
“This unique biobank resource overcomes a major barrier we’ve faced in the field, namely: limited access to standardized salivary specimens suited for salivary gland regeneration research. This collection provides a foundation for regenerative therapy development, especially for radiation-induced chronic dry mouth,” says Nagarajan Kannan, Ph.D., lead writer of the research printed in npj Regenerative Drugs. Dr. Kannan can also be the director of the Mayo Clinic Stem Cell and Most cancers Biology Laboratory.
Almost 70% of sufferers with head and neck most cancers who’re present process radiation remedy expertise everlasting harm to their salivary glands. Individuals with this situation expertise diminished high quality of life from a relentless feeling like cotton is lining their mouths. Moreover being uncomfortable, persistent dry mouth can result in difficulties with chewing, tasting, talking and swallowing. It can also trigger tooth decay.

Unbiased LC-MS/MS-based single-cell proteomic profiling of purified primitive salivary cells. Credit score: npj Regenerative Drugs (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41536-025-00410-5
“Chronic dry mouth can extend long after radiation treatments are complete. It’s among the top concerns I hear from patients with head and neck cancer. Unfortunately, there aren’t many therapeutics available commercially for these patients,” says co-author Jeffrey Janus, M.D., an ear, nostril and throat specialist at Mayo Clinic in Florida.
One promising avenue of analysis is the cultivation of uncommon regenerative cells to larger numbers that may assist individuals sometime heal and develop new, wholesome salivary gland cells. The biobank consists of specimens collected from 208 donors.
From this repository, researchers have already discovered biomarkers for mature, saliva-producing cells, and with the assistance of a high-resolution protein map, they’ve recognized the potential tissue origin of uncommon, self-renewing salivary cells.
The analysis group additionally developed a radiation damage mannequin, which, paired with the biobank, supplies an built-in platform to find new, customized regenerative biotherapeutics.
It is a collaboration between Mayo Clinic Heart for Regenerative Biotherapeutics, Division of Laboratory Drugs and Pathology and Division of Otolaryngology.
Extra info:
Syed Mohammed Musheer Aalam et al, Institution of salivary tissue-organoid biorepository: characterizing salivary gland stem/progenitor cells and novel differentiation marker PSMA/FOLH1, npj Regenerative Drugs (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41536-025-00410-5
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First salivary gland regenerative biobank developed to fight persistent dry mouth (2025, Could 21)
retrieved 21 Could 2025
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