# DC exosome therapy to resolve inflammatory bone loss and oral infection

> **NIH NIH R01** · AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $365,750

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Periodontitis (PD) is a bone degenerative inflammatory disease that contributes to increased risk of other
diseases with more serious mortality and morbidity profiles. We propose here a novel immune therapeutic
strategy for PD, using cellular nano-particles, exosomes (EXO) from dendritic cells. Dendritic cells are the
“directors” of the adaptive immune response, as such, their immune functions can be exploited to treat chronic
immune-mediated diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. This is first study to our knowledge to
employ phenotypically stable exosomes from dendritic cells to treat experimental PD in mice. Our strategy
consists of “reprograming” immune cells in the periodontium responsible for destructive inflammatory bone loss
using custom DC exo. Our tactic is to inject DC exo directly into the gingiva, to target anti-inflammatory pathways
in specific immune cells, to prevent/resolve alveolar bone loss. The overall objective of these studies to acquire
a better understanding of the immunobiology of DC-derived exo in vivo and in vitro in the murine model of
experimental PD, and relate these findings to exo isolated from humans with PD. Our aims are to test the
hypotheses that: Aim 1. Exogenous DCexo delivered to the PD lesion persist in situ and reprogram recipient
DCs and T cells involved in experimental PD in mice in vivo; Aim 2. DC exo preserve molecular cargo and
reprogram acceptor DCs and T cells through receptor binding and endocytosis; Aim 3. Endogenous exo from
humans with PD contain molecular cargo of direct relevance to exo therapy and PD pathogenesis. Future goals
include: 1. the development of DC exo therapy for PD in humans, 2. assessment of salivary exo molecular cargo
for diagnostic potential in PD and other oral diseases

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10120359
- **Project number:** 1R01DE029468-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOPHER William CUTLER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $365,750
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-07-14 → 2026-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10120359

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10120359, DC exosome therapy to resolve inflammatory bone loss and oral infection (1R01DE029468-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10120359. Licensed CC0.

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