Polymicrobial pathogenesis in a murine periodontitis model.

严重牙周病是牙齿支持组织的慢性炎症性疾病，与特定的致病菌有关。这种疾病造成了巨大的经济负担，也是一个重大的公共卫生问题。最近有三种细菌被证明与人类晚期牙周病密切相关。这三种细菌中的一种已被证明在疾病的小鼠模型中产生牙周病，并且这种细菌细胞表面的主要蛋白质已被表征。此外，在这个小鼠模型中，已经证明杀死的细菌细胞或主要表面蛋白用作疫苗时可以预防疾病的发展。目前提案的目的是将这项工作扩展到包括与人类疾病相关的所有三种细菌。所有这些细菌种类在一起作为高密度多微生物复合体生长时的主要表面蛋白将被确定。最近的研究结果表明，在高密度的多微生物培养中，细菌通过信号系统进行交流，这可以改变与疾病相关的细胞表面蛋白的表达。这三种细菌在多微生物培养中生长时，在小鼠模型中引起牙周病的能力将被确定。这将允许确定单物种和或多物种疫苗是否能够预防该模型中的疾病。这项工作的意义在于，它将增加我们对与牙周病有关的细菌的了解，并可能导致开发有效的疫苗，以帮助预防人类疾病。

Severe periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the tooth's supporting tissues and is associated with specific pathogenic bacteria. The disease has a large economic burden and is a major public health problem. Three bacterial species have recently been shown to be closely associated with advanced periodontal disease in humans. One of these three bacterial species has been shown to produce periodontal disease in a mouse model of disease and the major proteins on the cell surface of this bacterium have been characterized. Further, in this mouse model it has been demonstrated that killed cells of the bacterium or the major surface proteins when used as a vaccine prevent development of disease. The purpose of the current proposal is to extend this work to include all three bacterial species that have been associated with disease in humans. The major surface proteins of all these bacterial species when grown together as high density polymicrobial complexes will be determined. Recent results have shown that in high-density, polymicrobial cultures bacteria communicate using signalling systems which can alter the expression of cell surface proteins associated with disease. The ability of the three bacterial species, when grown in polymicrobial culture, to cause periodontal disease in the mouse model will be determined. This will allow the determination of whether a single species and-or multispecies vaccine is capable of protecting against disease in this model. The significance of the work is that it will increase our understanding of the bacteria associated with periodontal disease and it may lead to the development of an effective vaccine to help prevent disease in humans.