Applying the regenerative medicine to cure the side-effects causing by the chemo/radiation therapy such as oral mucositis

口腔粘膜炎是接受放射和/或化疗的头颈部癌症患者的一种严重而痛苦的副作用。它不仅在某些情况下限制了患者对癌症治疗的耐受能力，而且还对生活质量产生了有害影响。然而，目前的临床策略并不能有效地预防口腔粘膜炎的发生。因此，迫切需要开发有效的治疗方法。从雄性C3H小鼠分离出BMDCs，经尾静脉照射后立即移植到雌性小鼠体内。照射后2、5、7、11d取舌，进行大体、组织学和免疫学分析，以明确骨髓DC移植的效果。照射后2天，未治疗组小鼠舌体基底层细胞出现明显的细胞凋亡，而骨髓基质细胞治疗组小鼠舌组织仅见少量细胞凋亡。照射后7d，IR舌部溃疡面积最大，BM标本溃疡面积约为IR的60%，并保持上皮厚度。与这一外观一致，组织学分析显示，BM的舌头表现出组织再生活动的增加，如血管形成和细胞增殖。照射11d后，BM组溃疡面积较IR组明显缩小。我们的数据表明，骨髓基质细胞的细胞治疗可以预防由头颈部照射引起的最大程度的溃疡。

Oral mucositis is a serious and painful side effect for patients with head and neck cancer who received radiation- and/or chemo-therapy. It causes not only the limitation on the ability of patients to tolerate cancer therapies in some cases but also the harmful effects on the quality of life. However, current clinical strategies cannot efficiently prevent the occurrence of oral mucositis. Therefore, effectivetherapy should be developed urgently. BMDCs isolated from male C3H mice were transplanted to the female mice just after the irradiation through the tail vein. After 2, 5, 7 and 11 days of irradiation, the tongues were harvested, and the macroscopic, histological and immunological analyses were performed to clarify the effects of BMDC transplantation. After 2 days of irradiation, the tongues of non-treated mice (IR) showed significant apoptosis of the cells throughout the basal cell layer while few cells were observed in that of BMDCs-treated mice (BM). After 7 days of irradiation, while the ulcer area became maximum in the tongues of IR, the area of ulcers formed in BM specimens was approximately 60% of IR and preserved the epithelial thickness. Consistent with this appearance, histological analysis shows that tongues of BM demonstrated an increased level of tissue regenerative activity such as blood vessel formation and cell proliferation. Finally, after 11 days of irradiation, the area of ulcers in BM decreased remarkably compared with that in IR. Our data suggests that cell therapy with BMDCs can prevent the maximum ulceration caused by head and neck irradiation.