Two Postgraduates of CQMU-SH Won the First Prize in the 71th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR)

The 71th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research(AADOCR) was held on February 13 in America. Invited by College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics of IOWA, one teacher and nine students of CQMU-SH attended the meeting, and two students won the First Prize from basic research student.

Jiang Min focuses on the development of novel biomaterials to promote the regeneration of peri-implant tissues and the mechanisms research. As the transmucosal component of implant, the abutment therefore needs to be biofunctionalized to repair the gingival barrier. So she developed and characterized a mussel-bioinspired implant abutment coating containing tannic acid (TA), cerium and minocycline (TA-Ce-Mino). She tested the drug delivery behavior, antibacterial function and immunoregulation capacity of TA-Ce-Mino. In addition, she further demonstrated the excellent angiogenesis effect of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) under inflammatory environment and effect of ta-ce-mino on attachment promotion and activation of human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) in vitro. Finally, she tested its multifunctional effects in vivo study and revealed the potential therapeutic mechanism.

Xiang Jing focuses on the underlying mechanism of the alterations in the phenotype and function of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). She collected samples from OSCC patients and established subcutaneous xenografts in nude mice; then co-cultured OSCC cancer cells with THP-1 derived macrophages (Mφ) in vitro to simulate the OSCC TME. Western blotting (WB), qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence (IF), and flow cytometry (FACS) were performed to evaluated the alterations of TAMs in the OSCC TME. RNA-seq, seahorse assays, mass spectrometry-based metabolomics analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), flow cytometry (FACS), and scanning electron microscopy were carried out to uncover the underlying mechanisms of the alterations. Finally, she concluded that the transfer of mitochondria from OSCC cancer cells to TAMs via TNT is an important way to regulate macrophages in OSCC TME; and that inhibiting the transfer of mitochondria from OSCC cancer cells to TAMs through TNT may be a promising therapeutic approach for treating oral squamous cell carcinoma.