Tatullo Marco, Favia Gianfranco, Quaranta Nicola Antonio Adolfo, Pacifici Andrea, Islam Mohammad, Lopez-Jornet Pia
Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience - DiBraiN, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", 70124 Bari, Italy.
MIRROR-Medical Institute for Regeneration and Repairing and Organ Replacement, Interdepartmental Center, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", 70124 Bari, Italy.
Discov Med. 2025 Jan;37(192):19-30. doi: 10.24976/Discov.Med.202537192.2.
Salivary gland dysfunctions are common conditions variously related to aging, inflammatory players, and any other factor able to alter their normal physiology. These conditions may significantly impact oral and systemic health, affecting the overall quality of life. Over time, numerous therapeutic strategies have been explored to regenerate, repair, or replace injured salivary glands, focusing on those molecular and cellular mechanisms able to be safely translated into a clinical landscape. In this context, stem cells, tissue engineering, and the novel organoids technology, have gained exciting results, even if such approaches may require some optimization for their long-term maintenance. Despite extensive research, a composite stem cell population capable of regenerating functional glandular tissue remains elusive; nonetheless, to overcome these current limitations, recently, the transplantation of allogeneic stem cells has emerged as a reliable solution. This overview comprehensively examines the salivary glands in the light of modern biotechnologies, with the aim of better understanding the current state of the art in salivary gland regeneration and repair by using tissue engineering, biomimetic strategies, target therapies, and three-dimensional (3D) organoids technology. This work investigates the main salivary gland dysfunctions and their impact on oral and systemic health. It then discusses the most promising advanced strategies for oral tissue bioengineering, focusing on the potential of stem cells and organoids.
唾液腺功能障碍是与衰老、炎症因素以及任何其他能够改变其正常生理功能的因素相关的常见病症。这些病症可能会对口腔和全身健康产生重大影响,进而影响整体生活质量。随着时间的推移,人们探索了许多治疗策略来再生、修复或替换受损的唾液腺,重点关注那些能够安全地转化为临床应用的分子和细胞机制。在这种背景下,干细胞、组织工程和新型类器官技术已经取得了令人振奋的成果,尽管这些方法可能需要在长期维持方面进行一些优化。尽管进行了广泛的研究,但能够再生功能性腺组织的复合干细胞群体仍然难以捉摸;然而,为了克服当前的这些局限性,最近,同种异体干细胞移植已成为一种可靠的解决方案。本综述根据现代生物技术全面审视唾液腺,旨在通过组织工程、仿生策略、靶向治疗和三维(3D)类器官技术更好地了解唾液腺再生和修复的当前技术水平。这项工作研究了主要的唾液腺功能障碍及其对口腔和全身健康的影响。然后讨论了口腔组织生物工程中最有前景的先进策略,重点关注干细胞和类器官的潜力。