Salivary Antimicrobial Peptide Expression and Dental Caries Experience in Children

Abstract

Dental caries is a major worldwide oral disease problem in children. Although caries are known to be influenced by dietary factors, the disease results from a bacterial infection; thus, caries susceptibility may be affected by host factors such as salivary antimicrobial peptides. This study aimed to determine a possible correlation between caries prevalence in children and salivary concentrations of the antimicrobial peptides human beta-defensin-3 (hBD-3), the cathelicidin LL37, and the alpha-defensins HNP1-3 (a mixture of HNP1, 2, 3). Oral examinations were performed on 149 middle school children, and unstimulated whole saliva was collected for immunoassays of the three peptides and for assay of caries-causing bacteria in saliva. The median salivary levels of hBD-3, LL37, and HNP1-3 were in the microgram/ml range but were highly variable in the population. While levels of LL37 and hBD-3 did not correlate with caries experience, the median HNP1-3 levels were significantly higher in children with no caries than in children with caries. Children with high caries levels did not have high levels of salivary Streptococcus mutans, and the HNP1-3 level was not correlated with salivary S. mutans. By immunohistochemistry we localized HNP1-3 in submandibular salivary duct cells. HNPs are also released by neutrophils into the gingival crevicular fluid. Both sources may account for their presence in saliva. Low salivary levels of HNP1-3 may represent a biological factor that contributes to caries susceptibility. This observation could lead to new ways to screen for caries susceptibility and to new means of assessing the risk for this common oral problem.

Quantification of Human β-Defensin-2 and -3 in Body Fluids: Application for Studies of Innate Immunity

“…The concentrations of salivary hBD-3 that we found are in line with those reported by others using extraction and slot blot procedures (15 ). The large standard deviations in our data and those reported by Tao et al (15 ) suggest large interindividual variability in hBD-2 and -3 expression.…”

“…Previous methods of quantifying hBDs in body fluids involved acid extraction followed by slot blot assays (14,15 ), semiquantitative Western analysis (16 -18 ), or RIA (19 ). ELISA assays have become one of the most popular biomedical methods for quantifying proteins in biological samples because, in addition to their sensitivity and specificity, they are simpler and less costly than other analyses.…”

Fitness level impacts salivary antimicrobial protein responses to a single bout of cycling exercise

“…The sAMPs play a pivotal role in maintaining mucosal immune integrity (Allgrove et al 2008;Bals and Hiemstra 2004;Papacosta and Nassis 2011;West et al 2006) by working synergistically to curtail invading bacteria, viruses, and fungi (De Smet and Contreras 2005;Radek and Gallo 2007;West et al 2006) and are vital in both the prevention and clearance of many types of infection (Bowdish et al 2005;Davison et al 2009;West et al 2006). In particular, infections of the oral cavity and upper respiratory tract (URTI) are associated with depressed levels of sAMPs (Table 1) (Bartlett et al 2008;Bishop and Gleeson 2009;Dale et al 2006;Doss et al 2010;Laube et al 2006;Putsep et al 2002;Tanida et al 2003;Tao et al 2005;Ueta et al 2000;West et al 2006), highlighting their prominent role in first--line immune defense.…”

Salivary proteins as biomarkers in dental caries: In vivo study

“…To evaluate the typical proteomic pattern, the separation of proteins and their visualization using a stain is necessary. Gel electrophoresis is one of the important tools available to separate proteins based on their relative mobility on application of electric current depending on the molecular mass for evaluation [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”