Study Shows Bioengineered Materials Can Treat Oral Mucositis

New research that appeared in the journal Oncotarget has opened the door to a new way to approach the treatment of oral ulcers induced by chemotherapy. This debilitating and painful side effect of cancer treatment lowers the quality of life of patients undergoing chemotherapy, but oral mucositis remains an unmet medical need.

The study was conducted by a joint team from the Center for Research in Physics in Brazil and others from Rio de Janeiro Federal University. The lead author was Ana Chor. They sought to examine how effective an electrospun poly membrane (PLGA) was in accelerating tissue regeneration in cases of chemotherapy-triggered oral mucositis. The researchers used an animal model featuring hamsters in their study.

They found that the PLGA membranes, especially when they were used alongside healing cells from the body, had the effect of accelerating the process of recovery while also toning down inflammation. Their findings could usher in a new paradigm in the way oral ulcers are treated in patients undergoing chemotherapy to combat various cancers.

Oral ulcers manifest in a significant fraction of all patients to whom 5-Fluorouracil chemotherapy is administered. The side effect makes it hard for these patients to eat, drink or even speak. Despite how common this side effect is, there are very few treatments that can effectively address this condition. The research was aimed at exploring whether bioengineered materials could fill this treatment gap.

The researchers applied PLGA membranes to the chemotherapy-linked ulcers in a group of hamsters. Some hamsters got just the membranes while other hamsters had the membranes infused with mesenchymal cells extracted from the hamsters themselves to boost the process of healing.

The team noted that in just six days, the hamsters with PLGA membranes infused with mesenchymal cells had healed completely. Additionally, inflammation was minimal and new blood vessels were observed in the ulcerated regions. These blood vessels are pivotal during the healing process.

In contrast, the hamsters that only had PLGA membranes applied to their oral ulcers had a slower rate of healing. The membranes helped, but the lack of mesenchymal cells in the membranes denied these hamsters an element that would have boosted how quickly they healed.

A lot more research needs to be done before these promising findings from an animal study can be translated into approved treatments for humans. As bioengineered materials are further studied to establish how they can be leveraged to treat chemotherapy-induced oral ulcers, other efforts are being undertaken by companies like Soligenix Inc. (NASDAQ: SNGX) to develop effective drugs for similar conditions.

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