| Mucositis of the alimentary tract (AT) or alimentary mucositis is a debilitating adverse effect of cancer therapies in a high percentage of patients receiving chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, and high-dose radiation to the head and neck. This common oral complication bears a high impact on health, quality of life, a patient's ability to adhere with the prescribed therapies, as well as the overall economic outcome. Relatively little is known of the pathophysiology of mucositis and current therapeutic interventions are ineffective. Recently a new population of mesenchymal stem cells from human gingiva (hGMSC) have been discovered(Zhang et al., 2009), which exhibit not only multipotent differentiation and self-renewal capacities, but also possess distinct immunomodulatory functions. We hypothesized that treatment with hGMSC reduces epithelial injuries and ameliorates mucositis of the alimentary tract (AT) associated with cancer therapies. We explored the feasibility of using hGMSC to reduce the incidence and severity of mucositis induced by cancer therapies. We observed a significant reduction of AT mucositis and recovery of body weight in nearly 100% of mice undergoing one-dose treatment with hGMSC. Treatment with hGMSC was capable of reducing the incidence and severity of mucosal ulceration, promoting proliferation of mucosal epithelial cells and the regeneration of damaged crypts at the histological level. Our findings suggest that hGMSCs can ameliorate mucositis by promoting the regeneration of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy induced mucosal damage. Thus, hGMSC cell therapy may be a potential agent in the prevention and treatment of AT mucositis. |
