Newton001: Salivary gland development and regeneration

严重影响老年人生活质量的因素之一是唾液流量减少(唾液减少)和口干(口干症)。口干症的患病率随着年龄的增长而增加，并影响到大约30%的65岁或以上的人。口干症会导致言语、味觉消化、咀嚼和吞咽等方面的问题，并导致龋齿和念珠菌的高发病率。没有治愈方法，但在许多情况下，口香糖和人工唾液可以缓解症状。鉴于患者的数量之多，以及人口老龄化可能增加的发病率，了解导致口干症的机制是很重要的，以便找到新的治疗方法。口干症可以由许多不同的因素引起。某些药物会导致口干症作为副作用，而口干症也是自身免疫性疾病Sjögren综合征的一个主要特征，该疾病影响多达3%-4%的老年人。口干症也是一些影响唾液腺的遗传性疾病的特征，如LADD综合征和ALSG，通常是头颈部放射治疗的副作用。我们的目标是使用各种腺体功能障碍和再生的小鼠模型来研究口干症。这项应用的目的是将唾液腺发育的知识与小鼠唾液腺干细胞的知识结合起来，并将这些发现转化为人类。通过将英国基础科学家和巴西临床研究人员的研究结合起来，最终目标是创造治疗口干症的创新方法，这是可能的。

One of the factors that significantly impinges on the quality of life among elderly people is a decrease in salivary flow (hyposalivation) and a dry mouth (xerostomia). The prevalence of xerostomia increases with age and affects approximately 30% of people aged 65 or older. Xerostomia leads to problems with speech, taste digestion, mastication and swallowing, and a high incidence of dental caries and candida. There is no cure but chewing gum and artificial saliva are used to relieve the symptoms in many cases. Given the large numbers of sufferers, and the potential increase in incidence given our aging population, it is important to understand the mechanisms that drive xerostomia so that new therapies can be found. Xerostomia can be caused by a number of different factors. Certain medicines cause xerostomia as a side effect, while xerostomia is also a central feature of the auto-immune disease Sjögren Syndrome, which affects up to 3-4% of older adults. Xerostomia is also a feature of some genetic disorders that affect the salivary glands, such as LADD syndrome and ALSG, and is frequently a side effect of head and neck radiotherapy. We aim to study xerostomia using various mouse models of gland dysfunction and regeneration.This application aims to combine knowledge of salivary gland development with knowledge of salivary gland stem cells from mouse and translate these findings into humans. This is possible through combining research from basic scientists in the UK and clinical researchers in Brazil, with the ultimate goal of creating innovative methods to treat xerostomia.