Host response mechanisms in periodontal diseases

Periodontal diseases usually refer to common inflammatory disorders known as gingivitis and periodontitis, which are caused by a pathogenic microbiota in the subgingival biofilm, including Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Tannerella forsythia and Treponema denticola that trigger innate, inflammatory, and adaptive immune responses. These processes result in the destruction of the tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth, and eventually in tissue, bone and finally, tooth loss. The innate immune response constitutes a homeostatic system, which is the first line of defense, and is able to recognize invading microorganisms as non-self, triggering immune responses to eliminate them. In addition to the innate immunity, adaptive immunity cells and characteristic cytokines have been described as important players in the periodontal disease pathogenesis scenario, with a special attention to CD4+ T-cells (T-helper cells). Interestingly, the T cell-mediated adaptive immunity development is highly dependent on innate immunity-associated antigen presenting cells, which after antigen capture undergo into a maturation process and migrate towards the lymph nodes, where they produce distinct patterns of cytokines that will contribute to the subsequent polarization and activation of specific T CD4+ lymphocytes. Skeletal homeostasis depends on a dynamic balance between the activities of the bone-forming osteoblasts (OBLs) and bone-resorbing osteoclasts (OCLs). This balance is tightly controlled by various regulatory systems, such as the endocrine system, and is influenced by the immune system, an osteoimmunological regulation depending on lymphocyte- and macrophage-derived cytokines. All these cytokines and inflammatory mediators are capable of acting alone or in concert, to stimulate periodontal breakdown and collagen destruction via tissue-derived matrix metalloproteinases, a characterization of the progression of periodontitis as a stage that presents a significantly host immune and inflammatory response to the microbial challenge that determine of susceptibility to develop the destructive/progressive periodontitis under the influence of multiple behavioral, environmental and genetic factors

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans-induced hypercitrullination links periodontal infection to autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis

A bacterial etiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been suspected since the beginnings of modern germ theory. Recent studies implicate mucosal surfaces as sites of disease initiation. The common occurrence of periodontal dysbiosis in RA suggests that oral pathogens may trigger the production of disease-specific autoantibodies and arthritis in susceptible individuals. We used mass spectrometry to define the microbial composition and antigenic repertoire of gingival crevicular fluid in patients with periodontal disease and healthy controls. Periodontitis was characterized by the presence of citrullinated autoantigens that are primary immune targets in RA. The citrullinome in periodontitis mirrored patterns of hypercitrullination observed in the rheumatoid joint, implicating this mucosal site in RA pathogenesis. Proteomic signatures of several microbial species were detected in hypercitrullinated periodontitis samples. Among these, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa), but not other candidate pathogens, induced hypercitrullination in host neutrophils. We identified the pore-forming toxin leukotoxin-A (LtxA) as the molecular mechanism by which Aa triggers dysregulated activation of citrullinating enzymes in neutrophils, mimicking membranolytic pathways that sustain autoantigen citrullination in the RA joint. Moreover, LtxA induced changes in neutrophil morphology mimicking extracellular trap formation, thereby releasing the hypercitrullinated cargo. Exposure to leukotoxic Aa strains was confirmed in patients with RA and was associated with both anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) and rheumatoid factor (RF). The effect of HLA-DRB1 shared epitope alleles on autoantibody positivity was limited to RA patients that were exposed to Aa. These studies identify the periodontal pathogen Aa as a candidate bacterial trigger of autoimmunity in RA

Isolation, characterization and functional examination of the gingival immune cell network

Immune cell networks in tissues play a vital role in mediating local immunity and maintaining tissue homeostasis, yet little is known of the resident immune cell populations in the oral mucosa and gingiva. We have established a technique for the isolation and study of immune cells from murine gingival tissues, an area of constant microbial exposure and a vulnerable site to a common inflammatory disease, periodontitis. Our protocol allows for a detailed phenotypic characterization of the immune cell populations resident in the gingiva, even at steady state. Our procedure also yields sufficient cells with high viability for use in functional studies, such as the assessment of cytokine secretion ex vivo. This combination of phenotypic and functional characterization of the gingival immune cell network should aid towards investigating the mechanisms involved in oral immunity and periodontal homeostasis, but will also advance our understanding of the mechanisms involved in local immunopathology

Microbial signatures of health, gingivitis, and periodontitis.

The subgingival crevice harbors diverse microbial communities. Shifts in the composition of these communities occur with the development of gingivitis and periodontitis, which are considered as successive stages of periodontal health deterioration. It is not clear, however, to what extent health- and gingivitis-associated microbiota are protective, or whether these communities facilitate the successive growth of periodontitis-associated taxa. To further our understanding of the dynamics of the microbial stimuli that trigger disruptions in periodontal homeostasis, we reviewed the available literature with the aim of defining specific microbial signatures associated with different stages of periodontal dysbiosis. Although several studies have evaluated the subgingival communities present in different periodontal conditions, we found limited evidence for the direct comparison of communities in health, gingivitis, and periodontitis. Therefore, we aimed to better define subgingival microbiome shifts by merging and reanalyzing, using unified bioinformatic processing strategies, publicly available 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon datasets of periodontal health, gingivitis, and periodontitis. Despite inherent methodological differences across studies, distinct community structures were found for health, gingivitis, and periodontitis, demonstrating the specific associations between gingival tissue status and the subgingival microbiome. Consistent with the concept that periodontal dysbiosis is the result of a process of microbial succession without replacement, more species were detected in disease than in health. However, gingivitis-associated communities were more diverse than those from subjects with periodontitis, suggesting that certain species ultimately become dominant as dysbiosis progresses. We identified the bacterial species associated with each periodontal condition and prevalent species that do not change in abundance from one state to another (core species), and we also outlined species co-occurrence patterns via network analysis. Most periodontitis-associated species were rarely detected in health but were frequently detected, albeit in low abundance, in gingivitis, which suggests that gingivitis and periodontitis are a continuum. Overall, we provide a framework of subgingival microbiome shifts, which can be used to generate hypotheses with respect to community assembly processes and the emergence of periodontal dysbiosis

Influence of DNA extraction on oral microbial profiles obtained via 16S rRNA gene sequencing

Background and objective: The advent of next-generation sequencing has significantly facilitated characterization of the oral microbiome. Despite great efforts in streamlining the processes of sequencing and data curation, upstream steps required for amplicon library generation could still influence 16S rRNA gene-based microbial profiles. Among upstream processes, DNA extraction is a critical step that could represent a great source of bias. Accounting for bias introduced by extraction procedures is important when comparing studies that use different methods. Identifying the method that best portrays communities is also desirable. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to evaluate bias introduced by different DNA extraction procedures on oral microbiome profiles. Design: Four DNA extraction methods were tested on mock communities consisting of seven representative oral bacteria. Additionally, supragingival plaque samples were collected from seven individuals and divided equally to test two commonly used DNA extraction procedures. Amplicon libraries of the 16S rRNA gene were generated and sequenced via 454-pyrosequencing. Results: Evaluation of mock communities revealed that DNA yield and bacterial species representation varied with DNA extraction methods. Despite producing the lowest yield of DNA, a method that included bead beating was the only protocol capable of detecting all seven species in the mock community. Comparison of the performance of two commonly used methods (crude lysis and a chemical/enzymatic lysiscolumn-based DNA isolation) on plaque samples showed no effect of extraction protocols on taxa prevalence but global community structure and relative abundance of individual taxa were affected. At the phylum level, the latter method improved the recovery of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Spirochaetes over crude lysis. Conclusion: DNA extraction distorts microbial profiles in simulated and clinical oral samples, reinforcing the importance of careful selection of a DNA extraction protocol to improve species recovery and facilitate data comparison across oral microbiology studies

Oral Microbiome Characterization in Murine Models

The oral microbiome has been implicated as a trigger for immune responsiveness in the oral cavity, particularly in the setting of the inflammatory disease periodontitis. The protocol presented here is aimed at characterizing the oral microbiome in murine models at steady state and during perturbations of immunity or physiology. Herein, we describe murine oral microbiome sampling procedures, processing of low biomass samples and subsequent microbiome characterization based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Influence of DNA extraction on oral microbial profiles obtained via 16S rRNA gene sequencing

Background and objective: The advent of next-generation sequencing has significantly facilitated character-ization of the oral microbiome. Despite great efforts in streamlining the processes of sequencing and data curation, upstream steps required for amplicon library generation could still influence 16S rRNA gene-based microbial profiles. Among upstream processes, DNA extraction is a critical step that could represent a great source of bias. Accounting for bias introduced by extraction procedures is important when comparing studies that use different methods. Identifying the method that best portrays communities is also desirable. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to evaluate bias introduced by different DNA extraction procedures on oral microbiome profiles. Design: Four DNA extraction methods were tested on mock communities consisting of seven representative oral bacteria. Additionally, supragingival plaque samples were collected from seven individuals and divided equally to test two commonly used DNA extraction procedures. Amplicon libraries of the 16S rRNA gene were generated and sequenced via 454-pyrosequencing. Results: Evaluation of mock communities revealed that DNA yield and bacterial species representation varied with DNA extraction methods. Despite producing the lowest yield of DNA, a method that included bead beating was the only protocol capable of detecting all seven species in the mock community. Comparison o