Antimicrobial peptides are short, positively charged, amphipathic peptides that possess a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity and have an important role in the host's innate immunity. Lack of, or dysfunctions in, antimicrobial peptides have been correlated with infectious diseases, including periodontitis. Porphyromonas gingivalis, a gram-negative anaerobe and a major pathogen associated wi...

Invasion of periodontal pathogens into periodontal tissues is an important step that can cause tissue destruction in periodontal diseases. Porphyromonas gingivalis is a keystone pathogen and its gingipains are key virulence factors. Fusobacterium nucleatum is a bridge organism that mediates coadhesion of disease-causing late colonizers such as P. gingivalis and early colonizers during the devel...

Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is a major oral pathogen and associated with periodontal diseases including periodontitis and alveolar bone loss. In this review, we indicate that two virulence factors, which are hemoglobin receptor protein (HbR) and cysteine proteases "gingipains", expressed by P. gingivalis have novel functions on the pathogenicity of P. gingivalis. P. gingivalis prod...

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that leads to destruction of the attachment apparatus of the teeth. The presence of particular oral bacteria and the host inflammatory response contribute to disease progression. Porphyromonas gingivalis is a Gram-negative anaerobe considered to be a major periodontal pathogen. Isolated Ags from P. gingivalis activate innate immune cells through T...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to define the immunoreactive specificity of Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) heat shock protein (HSP) 60 in periodontitis and atherosclerosis. METHODS In an attempt to define the cross-reactive bacterial heat-shock protein with human self-antigen at molecular level, we have introduced a novel strategy for cloning hybridoma producing anti-P. gingivalis...

Porphyromonas gingivalis is a gram-negative bacterium that is associated with periodontitis. It has been hypothesized that destruction of bone and periodontal connective tissue is associated with colonization of the subgingival crevicular space by P. gingivalis, although how these bacteria overcome innate host defenses is largely unknown. To examine the early cellular and molecular events of P....

The ability to attach to a variety of oral surfaces is an important characteristic of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Previous studies have demonstrated that expression and production of FimA, a major subunit protein of the long fimbriae, is required for P. gingivalis colonization. Here we report that a surface protein, arginine deiminase (ArcA) of Streptococcus cristatus, represses FimA production a...

Recent epidemiological studies revealed a significant association between oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and Porphyromonas gingivalis, a major pathogen of periodontal disease. As a keystone pathogen of periodontitis, P. gingivalis is known not only to damage local periodontal tissues, but also to evade the host immune system and eventually affect systemic health. However, its role in OSCC ...

Background Cigarette smokers are more susceptible to periodontal diseases and are more likely to be infected with Porphyromonas gingivalis than non-smokers. Furthermore, smoking is known to alter the expression of P. gingivalis surface components and to compromise IgG generation. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the overall IgG response to P. gingivalis is suppressed in smokers in vivo ...

Infection of macrophages with bacteria induces the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α. TNF-α directly stimulates osteoclast differentiation from bone marrow macrophages in vitro as well as indirectly via osteoblasts. Recently, it was reported that bacterial components such as LPS inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis in early stages, but promoted osteoclast differenti...