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Project

Suicide gene therapy as a new treatment for oral squamous cell carcinoma: a dental stem cell-based approach. (R-9783)

This project describes a novel approach towards the development of a dental stem cell-based therapy for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Current treatment is still inadequate with severe complications and highlights the urgent need for novel therapies with total tumor elimination and limited loss of healthy tissue. This study focuses on the use of human dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) as new vehicles for gene- directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) better known as "suicide gene therapy". Hence, DPSC will be used as carriers of a suicide gene to selectively target and kill tumor cells via the bystander effect. First, we will investigate this interaction in vitro in order to provide a fundamental understanding of the mechanistic effect of the proposed therapy. Subsequently, an in-depth study of the therapy in vivo will be performed together with the optimization of non-invasive monitoring of therapeutic success using state-of-the-art imaging modalities. In general, the outcome of this project will provide a solid understanding of the efficacy of the proposed dental stem cell-based therapy for OSCC. It will therefore serve as a pioneering study for subsequent preclinical and clinical studies.
Date:1 Oct 2019 →  30 Sep 2023
Keywords:STEM CELLS
Disciplines:Oral medicine and pathology, Cancer therapy