Project R-10594

Dental stem cells as effective vehicles in a new therapy for oral squamous cell carcinoma. (Research)

This project describes a novel approach towards the development of a dental stem cell-based therapy for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), a type of head and neck cancer. Current treatment is inadequate with severe complications and highlights the urgent need for novel therapies with total tumor elimination and limited loss of healthy tissue. We use human dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) as vehicles for gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy. DPSC specifically home to tumor lesions and metastases. Therefore, they are used as carriers of the therapeutic gene HSV-tk to selectively target and eliminate tumor cells via the bystander effect. First, we investigate this interaction in vitro in both 2D and 3D co-cultures to gain fundamental understanding of the therapeutic mechanism. Subsequently, an in-depth study of the therapy is performed in an OSCC rat model. State-of-the-art non-invasive imaging (PET/MRI and BLI) is used to monitor the therapeutic success in these animals, which allows a personalized therapeutic strategy. In general, the outcome of this project will provide a solid understanding of the efficacy of the proposed dental stem cell-based therapy for OSCC. It will therefore serve as a pioneering study for subsequent preclinical and clinical studies, not only in OSCC but as a generic therapy in a wide variety of cancer types.

01 January 2020 - 31 December 2023