목적: Xerostomia, a condition of insufficient salivary production, significantly deteriorates the quality of life for head and neck cancer patients who have undergone radiotherapy. However, current treatment of xerostomia is limited to temporary relief of symptoms, like using a saliva substitute or taking a drug daily to induce salivary production. This study aims to differentiate tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells (TMSCs) into salivary gland-like cells that can potentially be used for cell therapy to restore damaged salivary glands in the long run. TMSCs are employed because they can be recycled from waste tonsil tissue from tonsillectomy and have the potential to be differentiated into different lineages of cell types. 방법:TMSCs isolated from human tonsil tissue were characterized by FACS. Isolated TMSCs are cultured in 3D cell culture plates for 2 days to form spheroids of around 200 μm diameter. Spheroids are then cultured in differentiation media with ROCK inhibitor and FGF10. Samples are divided into control, ROCK inhibitor only, FGF10 only, and both ROCK inhibitor and FGF10 groups, and fixed on Day 1, 7, 14, and 21 after culturing in differentiation media to check the expression of pluripotent marker SOX2, acinar cell marker AQP5, and ductal cell marker K8 with immunofluorescent staining. 결과:Immunocytochemistry results showed a decrease in expression of SOX2 in all the groups, indicating a decrease in stemness and differentiation to other cell types from Day 1 to 21. AQP5 showed a slight positive expression, indicating positive acinar differentiation. K8 showed a negative expression, indicating the absence of ductal cells. 결론:There was a possible occurrence of TMSCs differentiation to acinar cells. However, the amount was low, and the condition that prompted the differentiation is unknown. Tests with other acinar cell markers are needed to confirm the presence of acinar cells. Also, further investigations need to be carried out to identify differentiation factors and find a condition that could increase the yield of salivary gland-like cells.