Cell Studies May Open Door
To Gum Disease Therapy

ORLANDO (Reuters Health) - The discovery of just how the bacterium that causes gum disease latches onto cells in the mouth could pave the way for a vaccine to fight the disease, researchers report.

Naturally occurring enzymes called ``gingipains'' may function as a ``kind of an on-off mechanism'' that Porphyromonas gingivalis, a bacteria strongly associated with periodontitis, uses to attach and then detach from cells, explained researcher Dr. Margaret Duncan of the Forsyth Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. She and co-author Dr. Tsute Chen presented their findings here Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Millions of individuals suffer from periodontitis, which has also been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The search for a periodontitis vaccine has long focused on finding ways to interrupt the life cycle of P. gingivalis as it reproduces within the human mouth.

In their study, Duncan and her colleagues examined the activity of gingipains--a type of protein-eating enzyme known as a proteinase. ``We were able to find that different parts of these gingipain proteinases actually do bind to gum cells,'' aiding the attachment of P. gingivalis to the outer surface of the cell, Duncan said. Gingipains also appear to help the bacterium detach from the cell.

Investigating further, the Boston researchers engineered a series of mutant gingipains. As expected, some of the mutants increased the attraction of bacterium to gum cells, while others appeared to inhibit attraction.

So far these experiments have only been conducted in tissue cultures, but Duncan told Reuters Health that ``many people are working for a vaccine directed to periodontitis and P. gingivalis in particular. Some people are working toward vaccines directed toward these gingipains, and I think this validates that approach.''

Though a gingipain-based vaccine for periodontitis may still be years away, the research remains ``promising,'' Duncan said, with one company in Australia working ``quite intensively'' at creating such a vaccine.

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".