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Teeth Growing Back: Trial and Error
Like other drug and treatment developments, the scientists had to try various options before they got it right. This is because drugs that affect BMP and Wnt, though effective at making teeth grow back, can also affect other parts of the body.
The researchers guessed that targeting the factors that act on BMP and Wnt specifically could be much safer. This is how they settled on USAG-1.
“We knew that suppressing USAG-1 benefits tooth growth. What we did not know was whether it would be enough,” said Takahashi.
After several trials, they found one antibody that only interrupted the interaction between USAG-1 and BMP and not Wnt. This allowed them to regrow teeth without affecting or stopping growth in other parts of the mice’s bodies. The treatment to make their teeth grow back worked well enough to move to further experiments.
From Mice to Ferrets
The researchers found that after just one administration of their drug, the mice could regrow a whole tooth. They then repeated the experiment in ferrets, whose teeth are actually much more similar to human teeth and dental patterns.
The next steps, before human trials, will be to test the treatment on dogs and pigs.
“Our results demonstrate that USAG-1 controls the number of teeth by inhibiting development of potential tooth germs in wild-type or mutant mice missing teeth. Anti–USAG-1 antibody administration is, therefore, a promising approach for tooth regeneration therapy.” they wrote in their report.
It will still be quite some time before this treatment that makes teeth grow back is available for people. So until then, protect your teeth – and don’t forget to floss!
This article was originally published on The Premier Daily and has been republished here with permission.
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