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Special Issue "Interaction between Oral Microbiota and Immunity in Health and Diseases"

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A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2023 | Viewed by 3120

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Josefine Hirschfeld
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Guest Editor

The School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Interests: periodontology; oral immunology and oral microbiology

Dr. Sarah A. Kuehne

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

The School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Interests: oral microbiology; discovery and characterization of bacterial virulence factors

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

The oral microbiota is composed of biofilms, complex multicellular structures containing microorganisms embedded within a self-produced extracellular matrix, with the ability of interspecies communication. Biofilms are the causative agents of oral diseases like gingivitis, periodontitis, and caries. Specific Gram-negative bacteria, such as Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, have been identified over the past decades as pathogens in periodontitis, whereas Gram-positive bacteria, particularly Streptococci, are known to initiate biofilm formation and to cause carious lesions. Gaining a better understanding of the pathogenic potential of microorganisms has been a key area of oral and dental research with the aim to develop novel antimicrobial therapies and early detection methods.

Effector cells of innate and acquired immunity, as well as stromal cells with immune functions, maintain homeostasis in healthy oral conditions but can contribute to disease and mediate host tissue destruction in periodontitis. This collateral damage and the communication between host cells during antimicrobial defense have been another research focus identifying new targets for the prevention and treatment of oral diseases.

This Special Issue includes the latest research in the field of host-microbiota interactions and microbial communication in oral health and disease, providing further insight into pathobiological mechanisms and highlighting possible diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Dr. Josefine Hirschfeld
Dr. Sarah A. Kuehne
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

biofilms
virulence
mucosal immunity
host-pathogen interactions
homeostasis
periodontal diseases

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Open AccessCommunication

Rolf Claesson

Anders Johansson

and

Georgios N. Belibasakis

Microorganisms 2023, 11(6), 1434; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11061434 - 29 May 2023

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare data about the prevalence and proportions of the bacterial species Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Parvimonas micra in periodontitis pocket samples collected from young, <35 years, and old, >35-year-old patients, YP and OP, respectively. The results from the analyses of a total of 3447 subgingival plaque samples analyzed for clinical diagnosis purposes by cultivation regarding the proportions of these species were collected from a database and elucidated. The prevalence of A. actinomycetemcomitans was found to be more than twice as high (OR = 2.96, 95% CI; 2.50–3.50) in samples from the younger (42.2%) than the older group (20.4%) (p < 0.001). The prevalence of P. micra was significantly lower in samples from the younger age group (OR = 0.43, 95%) (p < 0.001), whereas P. gingivalis was similarly distributed (OR = 0.78, 95%) in the two age groups (p = 0.006). A similar pattern was noticed for A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis when high proportions (>50%) of the samples of these bacterial species were elucidated. In contrast, the proportion of samples containing >50% with P. micra was lower compared with the two other bacterial species. Furthermore, it was noted that the proportion of samples from old patients containing A. actinomycetemcomitans in combination with P. micra was almost three times higher than in samples when P. micra was replaced by P. gingivalis. In conclusion, A.actinomycetemcomitans showed an increased presence and proportion in samples from young patients compared with the old patients, while P. gingivalis was similarly distributed in the two age groups. P. micra showed an increased presence and proportion in samples from old patients compared with the young patients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interaction between Oral Microbiota and Immunity in Health and Diseases)

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Open AccessArticle

Persister Cell Formation and Elevated lsrA and lsrC Gene Expression upon Hydrogen Peroxide Exposure in a Periodontal Pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

and

Microorganisms 2023, 11(6), 1402; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11061402 - 26 May 2023

Viewed by 214

Abstract

The effect of hydrogen peroxide, an antiseptic dental treatment, on Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, the main causative agent of localized invasive periodontitis, was investigated. Hydrogen peroxide treatment (0.06%, 4× minimum inhibitory concentration) resulted in the persistence and survival of approximately 0.5% of the bacterial population. The surviving bacteria did not genetically acquire hydrogen peroxide resistance but exhibited a known persister behavior. Sterilization with mitomycin C significantly reduced the number of A. actinomycetemcomitans persister survivors. RNA sequencing of hydrogen peroxide-treated A. actinomycetemcomitans showed elevated expression of Lsr family members, suggesting a strong involvement of autoinducer uptake. In this study, we found a risk of A. actinomycetemcomitans persister residual from hydrogen peroxide treatment and hypothesized associated genetic mechanisms of persister from RNA sequencing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interaction between Oral Microbiota and Immunity in Health and Diseases)

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Open AccessArticle

Oral Microbiota in Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Novel Insights into the Pathogenesis of Dental and Periodontal Disease

and

Microorganisms 2023, 11(3), 668; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11030668 - 06 Mar 2023

Viewed by 777

Abstract

The oral microbiota can be influenced by multiple factors, but only a few studies have focused on the role of glycemic control in determining early alterations of oral microbiota and their association with pathogenesis of both periodontitis and caries. The aim of this study is to evaluate the interplay between bacteria composition, oral hygiene, and glycemic control in a cohort of children with T1D. A total of 89 T1D children were enrolled (62% males, mean age: 12.6 ± 2.2 years). Physical and clinical characteristics, glucometabolic parameters, insulin treatment, and oral hygiene habits data were collected. Microbiological analysis was performed from saliva samples. A high prevalence of cariogenic and periodontopathogens bacteria in our cohort was detected. In particular, in all subjects Actinomyces spp., Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella intermedia, and Lactobacillus spp. were isolated. S. mutans was found in about half of the analyzed sample (49.4%), in particular in patients with imbalance values of glycemic control. Moreover, a higher presence of both S. mutans and Veillonella spp. was detected in subjects with poorer glycemic control, in terms of HbA1c, %TIR and %TAR, even adjusting for age, sex, and hygiene habits as covariates. Virtuous oral hygiene habits, such as frequency of toothbrush changes and professional oral hygiene, negatively correlated with the simultaneous presence of Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, and Porphyromonas gingivalis, red complex bacteria. Our study shows it is crucial to pay attention to glycemic control and regular oral hygiene to prevent the establishment of an oral microbiota predisposing to dental and periodontal pathology in subjects with T1D since childhood. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interaction between Oral Microbiota and Immunity in Health and Diseases)

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Open AccessArticle

Dysregulation of Stress-Induced Translational Control by Porphyromonas gingivalis in Host Cells

and

Microorganisms 2023, 11(3), 606; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11030606 - 27 Feb 2023

Viewed by 670

Abstract

Porphyromonas gingivalis contributes to the chronic oral disease periodontitis, triggering the activation of host inflammatory responses, inducing cellular stresses such as oxidation. During stress, host cells can activate the Integrated Stress Response (ISR), a pathway which determines cellular fate, by either downregulating protein synthesis and initiating a stress–response gene expression program, or by initiating programmed cell death. Recent studies have implicated the ISR within both host antimicrobial defenses and the pathomechanism of certain microbes. In this study, using a combination of immunofluorescence confocal microscopy and immunoblotting, the molecular mechanisms by which P. gingivalis infection alters translation attenuation during oxidative stress-induced activation of the ISR in oral epithelial cells were investigated. P. gingivalis infection alone did not result in ISR activation. In contrast, infection coupled with stress caused differential stress granule formation and composition. Infection heightened stress-induced translational repression independently of core ISR mediators. Heightened translational repression during stress was observed with both P. gingivalis–conditioned media and outer membrane vesicles, implicating a secretory factor in this exacerbated translational repression. The effects of gingipain inhibitors and gingipain-deficient P. gingivalis mutants confirmed these pathogen-specific proteases as the effector of exacerbated translational repression. Gingipains are known to degrade the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and the findings of this study implicate the gingipain-mTOR axis as the effector of host translational dysregulation during stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interaction between Oral Microbiota and Immunity in Health and Diseases)

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Open AccessCommunication

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Filifactor alocis as Associated with Periodontal Attachment Loss in a Cohort of Ghanaian Adolescents

and

Microorganisms 2022, 10(12), 2511; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10122511 - 19 Dec 2022

Viewed by 864

Abstract

The aims of the present study were to document the presence of Aggregatibacter actinomyctemcomitans and the emerging oral pathogen Filifactor alocis, as well as to identify genotypes of these bacterial species with enhanced virulence. In addition, these data were analyzed in relation to periodontal pocket depth (PPD) and the progression of PPD from the sampled periodontal sites during a two-year period. Subgingival plaque samples were collected from 172 periodontal pockets of 68 Ghanaian adolescents. PPD at sampling varied from 3–14 mm and the progression from baseline, i.e., two years earlier up to 8 mm. The levels of A. actinomycetemcomitans and F. alocis were determined with quantitative PCR. The highly leukotoxic JP2-genotype of A. actinomycetemcomitans and the ftxA a gene of F. alocis, encoding a putative Repeats-in-Toxin (RTX) protein, were detected with conventional PCR. The prevalence of A. actinomycetemcomitans was 57%, and 14% of the samples contained the JP2 genotype. F. alocis was detected in 92% of the samples and the ftxA gene in 52%. The levels of these bacterial species were significantly associated with enhanced PPD and progression, with a more pronounced impact in sites positive for the JP2 genotype or the ftxA gene. Taken together, the results indicate that the presence of both A. actinomycetemcomitans and F. alocis with their RTX proteins are linked to increased PPD and progression of disease. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interaction between Oral Microbiota and Immunity in Health and Diseases)

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