ArticleScience translational medicine2015
Sparing the region of the salivary gland containing stem cells preserves saliva production after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.
Article in Science translational medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 222 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessment and Prediction of Salivary Gland Function After Head and Neck Radiotherapy: A Systematic Review.Cancer medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Acupuncture for radiation-induced toxicity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review based on PICO criteria.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Normal Tissue Complication Models Relevant to Standard Fractionation Radiation Therapy of the Head and Neck Region Published After the QUANTEC Reports.International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · 2018Pooled it
- Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study of Salivary Substitute with Enzymatic System for Xerostomia in Patients Irradiated in Head and Neck Region.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2024Trial
- Diffusion-weighted imaging as a follow-up modality for evaluation of major salivary gland function in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients: a preliminary study.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2020Trial
- Can sparing of the superficial contralateral parotid lobe reduce xerostomia following radiotherapy for head and neck cancer?The British journal of radiology · 2017Trial
- Trial
- An interim analysis of acute treatment adverse events and patient reported quality of life for functional imaging guided salivary gland sparing radiation therapy using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.Physics and imaging in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Radiation-Induced Volume Changes in the Parotid and Submandibular Glands, Intragland Dose Distribution, and Quality of Life Scores Over a Long Follow-Up Period.Advances in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Notch signaling is a driver of glandular stem cell activity and regenerative migration after damage.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Current status and future directions of multimodal deep learning normal tissue complication probability modelling in head and neck cancer radiotherapy.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Radiation-induced xerostomia and oncologic outcomes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with comprehensive salivary gland-sparing helical tomotherapy: a prospective study of 266 patients.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Immune and inflammatory radiogenomics of radiotherapy-induced normal-tissue toxicity: genetic susceptibility, mechanisms, risk prediction, and clinical translation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Regional atrophy, cellular plasticity, and regenerative potential in irradiated murine salivary glands.Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) · 2025Article
- Methods of causal effect estimation for high-dimensional treatments: A radiotherapy simulation study.Medical physics · 2025Article
- Salivary Gland Scintigraphy in Parotid-Sparing IMRT for H&N Cancer: Trend of Function Recovery.Indian journal of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery : official publication of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India · 2025Article
- Establishment of salivary tissue-organoid biorepository: characterizing salivary gland stem/progenitor cells and novel differentiation marker PSMA/FOLH1.NPJ Regenerative medicine · 2025Article
- A subregional prediction model for radiation-induced hypothyroidism.BMC medical imaging · 2025Article
- Clinical applications of human organoids.Nature medicine · 2025Review
- Article
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Each year, 500,000 patients are treated with radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, resulting in relatively high survival rates. However, in 40% of patients, quality of life is severely compromised because of radiation-induced impairment of salivary gland function and consequent xerostomia (dry mouth). New radiation treatment technologies enable sparing of parts of the salivary glands. We have determined the parts of the major salivary gland, the parotid gland, that need to be spared to ensure that the gland continues to produce saliva after irradiation treatment. In mice, rats, and humans, we showed that stem and progenitor cells reside in the region of the parotid gland containing the major ducts. We demonstrated in rats that inclusion of the ducts in the radiation field led to loss of regenerative capacity, resulting in long-term gland dysfunction with reduced saliva production. Then we showed in a cohort of patients with head and neck cancer that the radiation dose to the region of the salivary gland containing the stem/progenitor cells predicted the function of the salivary glands one year after radiotherapy. Finally, we showed that this region of the salivary gland could be spared during radiotherapy, thus reducing the risk of post-radiotherapy xerostomia.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.