Cross reactivity of archaeal chaperonin with human CCT involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis and autoimmune disease

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Periodontitis is known to be an infectious disease caused by oral bacteria. Besides bacteria, it has recently been reported that methanogenic Archaea is also involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis. Archaea possess group II chaperonin that is homologous to human chaperonin CCT. Due to the sequence similarity, archaeal chaperonin has the potential to be a cross-reactive antigen of human CCT. We examined the reactivity of sera from patients with periodontitis or autoimmune diseases to the chaperonins. Antibody to the archaeal chaperonin and human CCT was detected in some patients. The results demonstrated the possible induction of autoimmune reaction targeting the group II chaperonin. Cross reaction between the archaeal and human chaperonin may be a trigger for autoimmune reaction.