Pioneering techniques aiming to grow new teeth from a patient's
own stem cells will be on display at the Royal Society's Summer
Science Exhibition which opens to the public on 1 July 2014.
Bioengineered stem cell teeth could challenge the use of artificial
dental implants.
Worldwide we spend more on dentistry than we do on many medical
treatments. Everyone in the developed world will receive dental
treatment at some point and it doesn't come cheap - current
implants to replace broken or decayed teeth cost around £2000.
Screwed directly into the jaw, they fail to reproduce the normal
connection between teeth and bone and might work loose in less
than 30 years.
Scientists are developing an innovative procedure that would use
cells from adult patients to grow full functioning teeth in situ. The
treatment could be working in mice in 5 years according to exhibit
leader Professor Paul Sharpe, Dickinson Professor of Craniofacial
Biology at King's College London Dental Institute.
Teeth can be grown from embryonic cells but Professor Sharpe says
a treatment using only adult cells and growth-stimulating chemical
factors that are already regulated for use in treatment, has a much
better chance of ever making it to market.
'It's very easy to grow teeth from embryonic cells in a lab
environment but if it's going to cost £50,000 per implant it will
never make it into clinical use,' says Professor Sharpe. Embryonic
cells are surrounded by ethical controversy and could not be
collected in the numbers necessary for approved large scale
treatment in patients. Adult cells are a more accessible option and,
if the patient's own cells are used, they could also negate the need
for a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs to avoid rejection.
'We're focused on an end point for patients and to replace current
implants, a stem cell therapy needs to be price competitive. Patients
are not going to pay for a treatment that costs 10 times as much as
an implant. Realistically they would probably pay for a treatment
that costs twice or three times as much because a bioengineered
tooth would last forever. But to reach that point we need to go back
to basics using only growth factors which are already regulated, and
we need to use accessible cells from adults - that's where the
challenge lies'.
To grow a new tooth requires two types of cell, epithelial cells and
mesenchymal stem cells. One of these types of cells must send
instructions to the other cell population to begin creating the
different cell types and tissues needed in teeth.
Professor Sharpe's team have already shown that epithelial cells
collected from adult patients' gum tissues during routine dental
surgery can respond to instructions from embryonic mesenchymal
cells to growth of teeth. The team is now searching for a source of
mesenchymal cells from adults that will trigger the same responses.
One source might be stem cells in adult bone marrow or teeth
themselves, but these cells lose their ability to produce other types
of tissue after 24 hours in culture. Professor Sharpe is working with
Dr Abigail Tucker to figure out how to reawaken the properties of
the cells to grow diverse tissue and unlock their ability to grow new
teeth.
Dr Tucker studies the replacement of teeth in the animal kingdom.
Sharks and snakes grow teeth on a conveyer belt, constantly
replacing those that are broken or fall out. New teeth grow in the
dental lamina - a tissue packed with stem cells which die off in
humans as soon as adult teeth come through.
Dr Tucker studies the signals from cells in the stem cell rich dental
lamina, to see how they trigger the formation of new teeth in these
animals. Her work on signalling might help Professor Sharpe
replicate the signals and perhaps revive the potency of adult cells to
grow new teeth.
'We've shown in the lab that you can use epithelial adult cells with
tooth-inducing mesenchymal cells from embryos and we've shown
that embryonic epithelial cells with mesenchymal adult cells can
grow new teeth. Now we need to combine adult epithelial and adult
mesenchymal cells. It's one of the last pieces of the puzzle'.
own stem cells will be on display at the Royal Society's Summer
Science Exhibition which opens to the public on 1 July 2014.
Bioengineered stem cell teeth could challenge the use of artificial
dental implants.
Worldwide we spend more on dentistry than we do on many medical
treatments. Everyone in the developed world will receive dental
treatment at some point and it doesn't come cheap - current
implants to replace broken or decayed teeth cost around £2000.
Screwed directly into the jaw, they fail to reproduce the normal
connection between teeth and bone and might work loose in less
than 30 years.
Scientists are developing an innovative procedure that would use
cells from adult patients to grow full functioning teeth in situ. The
treatment could be working in mice in 5 years according to exhibit
leader Professor Paul Sharpe, Dickinson Professor of Craniofacial
Biology at King's College London Dental Institute.
Teeth can be grown from embryonic cells but Professor Sharpe says
a treatment using only adult cells and growth-stimulating chemical
factors that are already regulated for use in treatment, has a much
better chance of ever making it to market.
'It's very easy to grow teeth from embryonic cells in a lab
environment but if it's going to cost £50,000 per implant it will
never make it into clinical use,' says Professor Sharpe. Embryonic
cells are surrounded by ethical controversy and could not be
collected in the numbers necessary for approved large scale
treatment in patients. Adult cells are a more accessible option and,
if the patient's own cells are used, they could also negate the need
for a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs to avoid rejection.
'We're focused on an end point for patients and to replace current
implants, a stem cell therapy needs to be price competitive. Patients
are not going to pay for a treatment that costs 10 times as much as
an implant. Realistically they would probably pay for a treatment
that costs twice or three times as much because a bioengineered
tooth would last forever. But to reach that point we need to go back
to basics using only growth factors which are already regulated, and
we need to use accessible cells from adults - that's where the
challenge lies'.
To grow a new tooth requires two types of cell, epithelial cells and
mesenchymal stem cells. One of these types of cells must send
instructions to the other cell population to begin creating the
different cell types and tissues needed in teeth.
Professor Sharpe's team have already shown that epithelial cells
collected from adult patients' gum tissues during routine dental
surgery can respond to instructions from embryonic mesenchymal
cells to growth of teeth. The team is now searching for a source of
mesenchymal cells from adults that will trigger the same responses.
One source might be stem cells in adult bone marrow or teeth
themselves, but these cells lose their ability to produce other types
of tissue after 24 hours in culture. Professor Sharpe is working with
Dr Abigail Tucker to figure out how to reawaken the properties of
the cells to grow diverse tissue and unlock their ability to grow new
teeth.
Dr Tucker studies the replacement of teeth in the animal kingdom.
Sharks and snakes grow teeth on a conveyer belt, constantly
replacing those that are broken or fall out. New teeth grow in the
dental lamina - a tissue packed with stem cells which die off in
humans as soon as adult teeth come through.
Dr Tucker studies the signals from cells in the stem cell rich dental
lamina, to see how they trigger the formation of new teeth in these
animals. Her work on signalling might help Professor Sharpe
replicate the signals and perhaps revive the potency of adult cells to
grow new teeth.
'We've shown in the lab that you can use epithelial adult cells with
tooth-inducing mesenchymal cells from embryos and we've shown
that embryonic epithelial cells with mesenchymal adult cells can
grow new teeth. Now we need to combine adult epithelial and adult
mesenchymal cells. It's one of the last pieces of the puzzle'.
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