Personalized Salivary Gland Cancer Treatment Using Organoids Opens New Pathway

Yonsei University College of Medicine Professor Lim Jae-yeol's Research Team
Establishes 3D Salivary Gland Organoid Culture Technology Preserving Salivary Gland Function
Develops Diagnostic Screening Platform Technology to Predict Patient-Specific Treatment Responses

From the left, Professor Lim Jae-yeol of Yonsei University Gangnam Severance Hospital, and Research Professors Yoon Yeo-jun and Kim Dong-hyun of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A research team led by Professor Lim Jae-yeol of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Yonsei University (Professor Lim Jae-yeol, Research Professors Kim Dong-hyun and Yoon Yeo-jun) announced on the 20th that they have newly established a three-dimensional organoid culture method that mimics the morphology and function of salivary glands using salivary gland epithelial stem cells.

The salivary glands are important organs that secrete saliva, which aids digestion and phonation and maintains the body's immunity. When the function of the salivary glands deteriorates, normal conversation becomes difficult, and digestion and various physical activities are impaired, causing most patients with head and neck cancer (salivary gland cancer) to experience a rapid decline in quality of life.

Various studies have been conducted to overcome the decline in salivary gland function, but treatments have been limited to symptomatic therapies such as drugs that simply stimulate saliva secretion (pilocarpine) or oral agents that alleviate dry mouth. Additionally, there have been limitations in the three-dimensional culture of stem cells using tissue stem cells of the salivary glands, especially adult epithelial stem cells, and no sophisticated three-dimensional models including all constituent cells of salivary gland tissue have been reported.

A three-dimensional organoid successfully cultured by the research team using salivary gland epithelial stem cells.

Based on long-term research expertise on salivary gland tissue stem cells, the research team confirmed that organoids derived from adult salivary gland stem cells can be maintained for up to 8 months in mice and up to 4 months in humans in culture media containing a proprietary combination of growth factors. The maintained organoids showed no genetic mutations during the culture period and consisted of various cells that make up the salivary gland tissue while retaining salivary gland functions. The distinct characteristics of the three major types of salivary glands (parotid, submandibular, and sublingual glands) were also clearly exhibited in the organoids.

The research team applied this culture method to salivary gland cancer tissues and succeeded in culturing cancer organoids exhibiting different characteristics in three types of salivary gland cancers (salivary gland carcinomas). Through this, they introduced a diagnostic screening platform technology capable of predicting different treatment responses for each patient's cancer type in advance.

Professor Lim Jae-yeol of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Gangnam Severance Hospital, who led the research, stated, “Through the organoid culture and diagnostic screening platform technology developed in this study, patient-tailored precision medicine for salivary gland cancer, as well as diagnostic and therapeutic technology development for intractable salivary gland diseases and patient-specific regenerative medicine using autologous salivary gland stem cells, will become possible in the future.”

This research was conducted with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘Biomedical Technology Development Project’ and ‘Basic Research Project in Science and Technology,’ as well as the Ministry of Education’s ‘Establishment of Science and Engineering Academic Research Infrastructure Project.’ The research results were published in the international journal Nature Communications, a sister journal of Nature.

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