Artificial Salivary Gland

The present application describes an artificial fluid secreting prosthetic device for non-invasive insertion and methods of using this device. Specifically, compositions and methods based on the discovery of an artificial fluid secreting prosthesis are disclosed in this application. Currently, there is no conventional effective treatment for salivary gland hypofunction. And although the transplantation of mammalian salivary glands has also been tried, this option has not proven desirable due to lack of sufficient donor supplies. To date, the inventors have performed experiments that have demonstrated: 1) subjects having irradiated salivary gland cells can be induced to secrete fluid subsequent to transfer of a gene; 2) heterologous genes can be transferred to salivary gland cells; and 3) an artificial gland has been designed having a support, an attachment surface joined to the support, and a monolayer of allogenic cells, engineered to secrete ions and water unidirectionally, joined to the attachment surface.