Researchers Identify New Target in Perio Treatment
New Target for Periodontitis Treatment Identified While researching strategies to prevent, halt, and reverse periodontitis, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) discovered a new target for treatment—complement, an important part of the immune system. In animal studies, complement inhibitors
Researchers Identify New Target in Perio Treatment
While researching strategies to prevent, halt, and reverse periodontitis, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) discovered that a new complement-targeted treatment showed promising results. Complements are an important part of the immune system, and in animal studies, complement inhibitors prevented the inflammation and bone loss associated with periodontitis. Researchers hope to replicate these results among human subjects.
In the report, “Genetic and Intervention Studies Implicating Complement C3 as a Major Target for the Treatment of Periodontitis,” published online in May in the Journal of Immunology, Penn researchers built on their prior research that demonstrated the periodontal bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis can hamper the ability of immune cells to clear infection, allowing it and other bacteria to flourish and inflame the gingival tissue. Knowing this, the team isolated C3, a part of the complement system associated with inflammation.
“P. gingivalis has many mechanisms to escape being eliminated from by the immune system, but getting rid of inflammation altogether is not good for them because they ‘feed’ off of it,” notes researcher George Hajishengallis, DDS, PhD, a professor of microbiology at the Penn School of Dental Medicine. “So P. gingivalis helps suppress the immune system in a way that creates a hospitable environment for other bacteria.”
Upon breeding mice that lacked the complement C3, researchers observed that the C3-deficient mice experienced a lower incidence of bone loss and inflammation in their gingival tissue than the control subjects—even after being infected with P. gingivalis. This led researchers to conclude that periodontitis cannot flourish without the C3 complement. The study authors assert their findings support the theory that complement-targeted treatments are effective in fighting disease, and suggest that additional research is needed.
Hygiene Connection E-Newsletter
June 2014
