Researchers at UTHealth Houston have received an $8.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study skeletal stem cells and their role in craniofacial bone diseases and deformities. The research is led by Noriaki Ono, DDS, PhD, an associate professor at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry.
Craniofacial bones are vulnerable to diseases due to the demands of chewing, breathing, and swallowing, which affect bone growth and regeneration. In previous studies, Ono identified a type of skeletal stem cell within the growth plate and bone marrow in mice. These cells were found to be active in forming bone despite being located in a "resting zone."
"We are now trying to understand the mechanisms of these craniofacial bone diseases through the lens of bone-forming skeletal stem cells," Ono stated. "We want to understand how these stem cells are contributing to bone diseases in the oral and craniofacial region so that in the future, we can come up with better therapeutic modalities to cure these conditions."
The study will be funded by a grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research over eight years. It will involve three programs using genetically engineered mice. The first program will explore how periosteal and endosteal stem cells work together in craniofacial bones.
"What makes the skull bone unique is that there is a mixture of two different mechanisms of bone formation involved," Ono explained.
The second program will examine how chondrocytes develop into craniofacial bones by comparing normal stem cells with genetically modified ones.
The third program aims to further understand skeletal stem cells' role in conditions like idiopathic condylar resorption and osteonecrosis of the jaw.
"We are going to be able to track the fate of these stem cells over time," Ono said. "This means that we may be able to treat bone diseases in the jaw and skull that we often see in dental clinics or other clinical settings by specifically treating bone-making stem cells."
Ono's research has been supported by NIH since 2012. Joshua Welch, PhD, from the University of Michigan, is a co-investigator on this study. The grant number for this award is R35DE034348.
