For millions who live with the parching aftermath of cancer radiation or autoimmune disease, the simple acts of speaking and swallowing have become daily struggles that medicine has long failed to remedy. Researchers at the University at Buffalo have now grown functional salivary gland tissue from human pluripotent stem cells — coaxing them through the same developmental steps nature uses — and successfully transplanted the resulting organoids into living mice, where they survived, integrated, and matured into the key structures of a working gland. The achievement does not yet reach the clinic
UB researchers successfully grow functional salivary glands from stem cells in mice
Millions suffer from severe dry mouth caused by cancer radiation therapy and autoimmune diseases like Sjögren's disease, experiencing impaired speaking, swallowing, and eating.
They could potentially become a renewable source of replacement cells
Mark
So they grew salivary glands from stem cells. But did they actually work? Did they produce saliva?
Mimi
They showed the key structures were there—the cells that make saliva, the cells that carry it, the cells that squeeze it out. But in mice, not humans. And the question of whether they produced enough saliva, or connected properly to the mouth, is still being worked on.
Luke
Right. The organoids survived and integrated, which is real progress. But the paper doesn't say they measured actual saliva output. That's the next phase.
Mark
Why mice? Why not go straight to human testing?
Mimi
Mice are immunodeficient, so they won't reject human tissue. It lets researchers see if the organoids can survive and mature in a living body without the immune system attacking them. It's a necessary step.
Luke
And it's also the only step they've taken so far. We don't know yet if this will work in humans, or how long it will take to get there.
Mark
How long are we talking?
Mimi
Andreadis said it's "a long way off." They're still refining the process, figuring out the best stage to transplant, improving how the organoids grow.
Luke
Years, probably. Maybe a decade or more before human trials. But the fact that it worked at all in mice—that the tissue survived and developed the right cell types—that's the breakthrough.
Mark
And the people who need this? Who are they?
Mimi
Cancer patients who've had radiation therapy, and people with Sjögren's disease, an autoimmune condition. Both cause severe dry mouth. It affects eating, swallowing, speaking. Previous treatments haven't worked well.
Luke
Millions of people, according to the reporting. That's a real patient population waiting for something better.
Mark
So this is the beginning of something.
Mimi
Yes. Proof that it's possible. Now they have to make it work reliably, safely, and at scale.
Der Puls
- Millions of cancer survivors and Sjögren's disease patients endure relentless dry mouth that impairs eating, speaking, and swallowing — and every previous treatment has fallen short.
- University at Buffalo scientists broke new ground by guiding pluripotent stem cells through a step-by-step developmental process that mirrors how salivary glands naturally form in the human body.
- The resulting organoids — tiny, self-organized, three-dimensional gland structures — were transplanted into immunodeficient mice, where they survived more than 40 days and fused with existing gland tissue.
- Analysis confirmed the organoids had produced all three critical cell types: acinar cells that make saliva, ductal cells that carry it, and myoepithelial cells that squeeze it out — complete with hollow flow channels.
- Human trials remain years away as researchers work to mature the cells more completely, optimize transplant timing, and ensure the new tissue connects properly to ducts and nerves.
- If the approach succeeds, it could repair radiation-damaged glands, restore chronic dry mouth patients' quality of life, and create a laboratory platform for studying salivary disease and testing new drugs.
For millions who live with the parching aftermath of cancer radiation or autoimmune disease, the simple acts of speaking and swallowing have become daily struggles that medicine has long failed to remedy. Researchers at the University at Buffalo have now grown functional salivary gland tissue from human pluripotent stem cells — coaxing them through the same developmental steps nature uses — and successfully transplanted the resulting organoids into living mice, where they survived, integrated, and matured into the key structures of a working gland. The achievement does not yet reach the clinic, but it marks the first time science has charted a credible path toward restoring what radiation and disease have taken away.
Extreme dry mouth is not a minor inconvenience. For people who have undergone radiation therapy for cancer, or who live with autoimmune conditions like Sjögren's disease, it becomes a daily obstacle — making it harder to speak, swallow, and eat. For years, doctors tried stimulating remaining glands or offering artificial substitutes, with little lasting success. Now a team at the University at Buffalo has taken a different path entirely: growing functional salivary glands from human stem cells.
The work, published in Nature Communications, was led by Stelios Andreadis of UB's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Olga Baker of the University of Missouri, with key contributions from PhD candidate Laura Sherwood and recent doctoral graduate Ronel Samuel. The researchers used pluripotent stem cells — which can be derived from a patient's own skin or blood — and guided them through a developmental sequence that mirrors how salivary glands form naturally, producing self-organized, three-dimensional structures called organoids.
Baker's team transplanted these organoids into the submandibular glands of immunodeficient mice, allowing human-derived tissue to grow without immune rejection. After more than 40 days, the results were striking: the organoids had not merely survived but fused with the host tissue, developing all three major cell types of a mature gland — acinar, ductal, and myoepithelial cells — along with the hollow channels through which saliva normally flows.
The team is not yet ready for human trials. They are focused on maturing the cells more completely, identifying the optimal transplant stage, and ensuring the new tissue connects properly to existing ducts and nerves. Andreadis is candid that clinical application remains years away. But the implications are real: a working approach could eventually repair radiation-damaged glands, restore saliva production in chronic dry mouth patients, and offer a platform for studying salivary disease and testing new therapies — a genuine path forward for millions who have been waiting for one.
Extreme dry mouth is not a minor inconvenience. For people who have undergone radiation therapy for cancer, or who live with autoimmune conditions like Sjögren's disease, it becomes a daily obstacle—making it harder to speak, to swallow, to eat. For years, doctors have tried to solve this problem by stimulating the remaining salivary glands to produce more saliva, or by creating artificial substitutes. Neither approach has worked reliably. Now researchers at the University at Buffalo have taken a different path: they are growing functional salivary glands from scratch, using human stem cells, with the eventual goal of implanting them into patients who need them.
The work, published in September in Nature Communications, represents the first time scientists have successfully created salivary gland tissue from pluripotent stem cells—cells that can be derived from a patient's own skin or blood and coaxed into becoming almost any cell type in the body. Stelios Andreadis, a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UB, led the effort alongside Olga Baker, a professor of otolaryngology at the University of Missouri. The team included Laura Sherwood, a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering, and Ronel Samuel, who completed his doctorate in 2024. Sherwood's work on the project earned her recognition at the 2025 Salivary Glands and Exocrine Biology Gordon Research Conference.
The researchers guided stem cells through a developmental pathway that mirrors how salivary glands form naturally in the human body. Step by step, they coaxed the cells into becoming salivary gland epithelial progenitor cells, which then self-organized into tiny three-dimensional structures called organoids—essentially mini organs. Baker's team in Missouri then transplanted these organoids into the submandibular salivary glands of immunodeficient mice, a choice that allowed the human-derived tissue to grow without triggering immune rejection. Andreadis and his colleagues at UB analyzed the results using immunostaining and other techniques to see how well the transplanted organoids had integrated and matured.
What they found was striking. After more than 40 days in the mice, the organoids not only survived but fused with the existing salivary gland tissue. The analysis revealed that the organoids had developed the key cell types found in mature glands: acinar cells, which produce saliva; ductal cells, which transport it to the mouth; and myoepithelial cells, which contract to squeeze the saliva out. The newly formed glands resembled native salivary glands in structure and had even developed lumens—the hollow channels through which saliva normally flows.
This is significant because it demonstrates proof of concept. Sherwood explained that the transplanted organoids survived in living tissue, integrated with the host gland, and differentiated to include the major structural components of a functional salivary gland. That means they could potentially become a renewable source of replacement cells for patients in the future. The work builds on a foundation laid by Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon, who won the Nobel Prize in 2012 for discovering how to convert mature human cells into pluripotent stem cells. Since then, researchers have used this technique to create vascular tissue, brain cells, and kidney cells—but salivary glands had remained elusive until now.
The team is not yet ready to move toward human trials. They are focused on refining the process so that the cells in the organoids mature more completely and their development can be controlled more precisely. They are also investigating the optimal stage at which to transplant organoids, and working to improve the conditions under which the organoids grow. The goal is to increase saliva production and ensure that the new tissue connects properly both with the existing ducts that carry saliva to the mouth and with the nerves that regulate salivary gland function.
Andreadis is clear about the timeline: using these cells in humans remains years away. But the implications are substantial. If the approach succeeds, it could repair salivary glands damaged by radiation therapy, restore saliva production in people with chronic dry mouth, allow researchers to study salivary gland diseases in the laboratory, and provide a platform for testing new drugs on human salivary tissue. For millions of people living with the consequences of cancer treatment or autoimmune disease, that possibility represents something that has been missing for a long time: a genuine path forward.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Our findings suggest that salivary gland organoids may hold promise for studying salivary gland development, disease progression and drug screening, as well as for development of cell therapies for salivary gland regeneration.— Stelios Andreadis, University at Buffalo
While using these cells in humans is a long way off, this research does suggest that one day scientists could repair salivary glands damaged by radiation therapy, restore saliva production in people with chronic dry mouth, study diseases of the salivary glands in the lab and test potential new drugs on human salivary tissue.— Stelios Andreadis, University at Buffalo
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