How to Grow New Teeth? Japanese Scientists Have the Answer

Cell and gene therapies aren't limited to oncology and rare disease treatment - they also can be applied to dentistry. Japanese pharmaceutical startup Toregem Biopharma - conducted research in the field of dental regenerative therapy - they discovered a drug that theoretically will allow humans to grow new teeth.

Years ago, a Toregem's research group reported that the team had successfully completed the second clinical trial stage (animal trials). During the experiment, scientists grew new teeth in mice "recipients." This June, the company reported about the start of human trials - the final clinical stage, planning to complete the drug in six years.

What is the idea?

Even though our teeth consist of almost the same elements as bones (calcium, minerals, etc.) - they have very different biological capabilities. First of all - teeth can not heal and regrow themselves.

This feature is a core idea of the novel therapy. To gain it in teeth, scientists experimented with monoclonal antibodies - a synthetic copy of human's natural antibodies, programmed to find and attach to other specific proteins. This approach is widely used in oncology to target the mutated disease-causing proteins.

How does it work?

Scientists found a particular protein - USAG-1 - that usually stops the teeth growth in organisms. Suppressing it with programmed monoclonal antibodies, researchers can go through the biological limitations and provoke the emergence of new teeth.

At least, it had worked with ferrets - animals with similar dental patterns during clinical trials.

What's next?

The human trials will involve 30 male participants aged between 30 and 64 who lost at least one tooth. According to scientist's estimates, human trials will take at least six years. Hopefully, in 2030, we will see the first dental regenerative therapy based on monoclonal antibodies.