Kyoto University confirms tissue regeneration in mice with “mini-jawbone” from iPS cells
A research team led by Associate Professor Makoto Iketani of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, has succeeded in creating a “mini-organoid” that reproduces part of the jaw bone from human iPS cells. When this organoid was transplanted into a mouse with a partial missing jawbone, it became familiar with the surrounding bones and the tissue regenerated. We aim to apply the treatment to patients who have lost their jaw bone due to illness.
The jawbone is important for chewing food and making noise. Damage to the jawbone due to illness or injury can lead to a decline in quality of life (QOL), such as eating and talking. Treatment includes bone graft surgery, artificial bone, implants, and other methods of replacing bones, but the burden on the patient was sometimes large and the tissue did not fit well.
The research team collected human iPS cells and cultured them in three dimensions to create a mass of cells that form the basis of jawbones. Cultured with a specific protein resulted in a jawbone with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 millimeters.
Immunocompromised mice that did not reject human cells were transplanted with the prepared jawbone. The jawbone was familiar with the missing jawbone of the mouse, and after four weeks, the regeneration of the jawbone was confirmed. Associate Professor Iketani explains, “[The jawbone used in the experiment] does not use animal-derived ingredients, so it is easy to apply to humans.”
Sota Motoike, a specially appointed assistant professor at CiRA, said, “We believe that the organoid fabrication method established in this study can be applied to other bones.”
The results of the study were published in the British scientific journal “Nature Biomedical Engineering” on February 2.