Description

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Regeneration of Salivary Glands examines the current state of salivary regeneration by understanding the normal processes of development, function and tissue repair. It also explores the experimental and clinical approaches to stem cell therapy, mostly for irradiation induced salivary gland damage.Irradiation of head and neck cancers often involves the inclusion of salivary glands as it is difficult to focus the beams accurately enough. As a result, irritation of oral tissues and loss of saliva often lead to mucositis, which is the leading cause for patients not completing their treatments. Based on basic research that has shown stem cells develop into salivary glands, the regeneration process recapitulates aspects of this stem cell differentiation. This process involves several signaling pathways, but the Wnt pathway is of special interest as already shown in gut epithelial turnover and salivary gland stem cell differentiation.These challenges and new therapies developed in helping salivary gland regeneration are discussed in depth, and will be of interest to postgraduates and researchers in the fields of regenerative medicine and stem cell research.