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Published on: February 10, 2020
Tissue engineering of oral dysplasia
K Gaballah1, D E Costea, A Hills
1Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals, King's College London, Maxillofacial Unit, Great Maze Pond, London SE1 9RT, UK.
The Journal of Pathology
|May 20, 2008
Summary
Researchers created engineered epithelia from oral lesion cells to model dysplasia. This approach provides a reproducible source for studying oral dysplasia and the microenvironment's role in its development.
Area of Science:
- Oral pathology
- Tissue engineering
- Cell biology
Background:
- Oral dysplasia is a precancerous condition.
- Developing reliable models for studying oral dysplasia is crucial.
- Understanding the cellular and microenvironmental factors is key.
Purpose of the Study:
- To create a renewable source of engineered epithelia from dysplastic oral lesions.
- To characterize these engineered epithelia using a dysplasia-scoring index and immunophenotyping.
- To investigate the influence of growth conditions and fibroblasts on epithelial dysplasia.
Main Methods:
- Isolation and co-culture of oral keratinocytes and fibroblasts from dysplastic lesions.
- Development and application of a dysplasia-scoring index.
- Immunophenotyping of engineered epithelia.
- Assessment of growth conditions (e.g., KGF) and fibroblast interactions.
Main Results:
- Engineered epithelia recapitulated key features of clinical oral lesions.
- Immortalized dysplastic oral keratinocyte strains yielded reproducible models of mild, moderate, and severe dysplasia.
- Growth conditions, particularly KGF, modulated the severity of dysplasia.
- Dysplasia-associated fibroblasts influenced epithelial phenotype, increasing dysplasia scores and inducing morphological changes.
Conclusions:
- Engineered epithelia serve as a valuable, reproducible model for studying oral dysplasia.
- The microenvironment, particularly fibroblasts, plays a significant role in determining the phenotype of dysplastic oral epithelia.
- This model system facilitates research into the pathogenesis and potential treatments for oral dysplasia.
