Recent Advances in Host Defense Mechanisms/Therapies against Oral Infectious Diseases and Consequences for Systemic Disease.

Recent Advances in Host Defense Mechanisms/Therapies against Oral Infectious Diseases and Consequences for Systemic Disease. Adv Dent Res. 2014 May;26(1):30-7 Authors: Gaffen SL, Herzberg MC, Taubman MA, Van Dyke TE Abstract The innate and adaptive immune systems are both crucial to oral disease mechanisms and their impact on systemic health status. Greater understanding of these interrelationships will yield opportunities to identify new therapeutic targets to modulate disease processes and/or increase host resistance to infectious or inflammatory insult. The topics addressed reflect the latest advances in our knowledge of the role of innate and adaptive immune systems and inflammatory mechanisms in infectious diseases affecting the oral cavity, including periodontitis and candidiasis. In addition, several potential links with systemic inflammatory conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, are explored. The findings elucidate some of the defense mechanisms utilized by host tissues, including the role of IL-17 in providing immunity to oral candidiasis, the antimicrobial defense of mucosal epithelial cells, and the pro-resolution effects of the natural inflammatory regulators, proresolvins and lipoxins. They also describe the role of immune cells in mediating pathologic bone resorption in periodontal disease. These insights highlight the potential for therapeutic benefit of immunomodulatory interventions that bolster or modulate hos...
Source: Adv Dent Res - Category: Dentistry Authors: Tags: Adv Dent Res Source Type: research