Objective Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the supporting structures of the teeth caused by a polymicrobial infection and, despite the general improvement of oral health status and advances in treatment; it continues to afflict a large percentage of adults worldwide. If morbidity caused by tooth loss due to advanced periodontitis was not enough, mounting evidence suggests a causative link between periodontal and cardiovascular diseases. It is now generally accepted that a relatively small consortium of anaerobic Gram-negative bacteria (P. gingivalis, T. denticola and T. forsythia) described as the “red complex” is strongly associated with the pathological changes in the periodontium. Each of these bacteria is well equipped with virulence factors among which, proteolytic enzymes are the best studied. In the case of P. gingivalis, gingipains were shown to significantly contribute to bacterial virulence in vivo. Proteolytic activity produced by P. intermedia may also add to the destructive potential of the red complex consortium since the presence of this bacterium strongly correlates with the presence of P. gingivalis and T. forsythia in the subgingival communities. We hypothesize that different proteases affect host defense system at different non-redundant sites and these concerted multiple assaults should lead to a significantly greater effect than the additive action of individual proteases. Therefore, we postulate that this kind of interaction occurs in the periodontal pocket and may be experimentally verified using specific mice models of periodontal disease using monomicrobial and synergistic mixed microbial infections with a combination of P. gingivalis and P. intermedia wild-type and protease-deficient mutants. Our proposed hypothesis of combined proteolytic periodontopathogen activity may have significant potential importance for the treatment and prevention of periodontal disease in the future. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriologymedical and health scienceshealth sciencesinflammatory diseasesmedical and health sciencesclinical medicinecardiologycardiovascular diseasesmedical and health sciencesclinical medicineodontologyperiodonticsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsenzymes Keywords P P. gingivalis P. intermedia Periodontitis gingipains proteolytic enzymes Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) PEOPLE-2007-4-3.IRG - Marie Curie Action: "International Reintegration Grants" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-IRG-2008 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IRG - International Re-integration Grants (IRG) Coordinator Jagiellonian University in Krakow EU contribution € 100 000,00 Address Ul. Golebia 24 31007 KRAKOW Poland See on map Region Makroregion centralny Łódzkie Miasto Łódź Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Jan Potempa (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data