Closing the door on periodontal disease

Periodontal disease (PD) affects a large segment of the population and ultimately leads to tooth and bone loss, requiring restoration with metal implants. For those who have it, this disease significantly affects their quality of life and is very costly.

PD is also linked to systemic health problems, such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and diabetes. Unfortunately, there still is no reliable treatment for PD.

PD starts when the epithelial seal around the tooth, which is formed by a specialized portion of the gingiva, fails. Antonio Nanci, Canada Research Chair in Calcified Tissues and Biomaterials, and Structural Imaging, has discovered new proteins that help maintain the integrity of this seal.

This discovery promises to change the framewok for PD treatment from the current one of simply managing PD, to one based on early intervention. This will lead to treatments that can prevent the breakdown of the seal, or restore it before the disease can spread, effectively closing the door on PD.

Nanci’s interfacial biology approach also holds potential for the design of implants that can improve healing and stability in dental and orthopaedic reconstructions. This is especially important for ageing patients with compromised health, bone status and healing capacity.

Nanci's work also looks at a number of critical but unresolved questions and lines of inquiry into oral health, epithelial stem cells, and tissue engineering.

1. Fouillen A, Mary C, Ponce KJ, Moffatt P, Nanci A. A proline rich protein from the gingival seal around teeth exhibits antimicrobial properties against Porphyromonas gingivalis. Sci Rep. 2021; 11:2353.

2. Igelmann S, Lessard F, Fernandez-Ruiz A, Boiuchard J, Uchenunu O, Rowell MC, Lopes-Paciência S, Papadopoli D, Fouillen A, Ponce KJ, Huot G, Mignacca L, Benfdil M, Kalegari P, Wahba HM, Pencik J, Vuong N, Quenneville J, Bourdeau V, Hulea L, Gagnon E, Kenner L, Moriggl R, Nanci A, Pollak M, Omichinski J, Topisitrovic I, Ferbeyre G. A hydride transfer complex reprograms NAD metabolism preventing senescence. Mol Cell 2021, accepté

3. Beskrovnaya P, Fakih D, Sexton D, Xing S, Golmohammadzadeh M, Morneau I, Guadarrama Bello D, Nanci A, Huan T, Tocheva. No endospore formation confirmed in members of the phylum proteobacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 2020, 87: e02312-20

4. Ducrot C, Bourque MJ, Delmas C, Racine AS, Guadarrama Bello D, Delignat-Lavaud B, Lycas MD, Fallon A, Michaud-Tardif C, Burke Nanni S, Herborg F, Gether U, Nanci A, Takahashi H, Parent M, Trudeau LE. Dopaminergic neurons establish a distinctive axonal arbor with a majority of non-synaptic terminals. bioRxiv 2020, 1: 1

5. de Barros E Lima Bueno R, Ponce KJ, Dias AP, Guadarrama Bello D, Brunski JB, Nanci A. Influence of Nanotopography on Early Bone Healing during Controlled Implant Loading.Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 ;10(11):2191.

6. Guadarrama Bello D, Fouillen A, Badia A, Nanci A. Nanoporosity Stimulates Cell Spreading and Focal Adhesion Formation in Cells with Mutated Paxillin. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2020;12(13):14924-14932.

7. Camacho D, Frazao R, Fouillen A, Nanci A, Lang BF, Apte SC, Baron C, Warren LA. New Insights Into Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans Sulfur Metabolism Through Coupled Gene Expression, Solution Chemistry, Microscopy, and Spectroscopy Analyses. Front Microbiol. 2020;11:411.

8. de Barros E Lima Bueno R, Dias AP, Ponce KJ, Brunski JB, Nanci A. System for application of controlled forces on dental implants in rat maxillae: Influence of the number of load cycles on bone healing. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2020;108(3):965-975.

9. Rodriguez-Contreras A, Nanci A. Nanocavitation of stainless steel improves its corrosion resistance and minimizes toxic effects on MC3T3-E1 osteogenic cells. Surf Coat Technol 2020 382:125225

10. Gourgas O, Muiznieks LD, Bello DG, Nanci A, Sharpe S, Cerruti M. Cross-linked elastin-like polypeptide membranes as a model for medial arterial calcification. Biomacromolecules. 2019: 20(7) 2625-2636.

11. Fouillen A, Grenier D, Barbeau J, Baron C, Moffatt P, Nanci A. Selective bacterial degradation of the extracellular matrix attaching the gingiva to the tooth. Eur J Oral Sci. 2019: 1-10.

12. Ariganello MB, Guadarrama Bello D, Rodriguez-Contreras A, Sadeghi S, Isola G, Variola F, Nanci A. Surface nanocavitation of titanium modulates macrophage activity. Int J Nanomedicine. 2018:13 8297-8308.

13. Bouvette J, Korkut DN, Fouillen A, Amellah S, Nanci A, Durocher Y, Omichinski JG, Legault P. Hight-yield production of human Dicer by transfection of human HEK293-EBNA1 cells grown in suspension. BMC Biotechnol. 2018; 18(1):76.

14. Duval T, Saliani A, Nami H, Nanci A, Stikov N, Leblond H, Cohen-Adad J. Axons morphometry in the human spinal cord. Neuroimage. 2019 Jan 15. 185:119-128.

15. Mary C, Fouillen A, Bessette B, Nanci A, Baron C. Interaction via the N terminus of the type IV secretion system (T4SS) protein VirB6 with VirB10 is required for VirB2 and VirB5 incorporation into T-pili and for T4SS function.J Biol Chem. 2018; 293(35):13415-13426

16. de Barros E Lima Bueno R, Dias AP, Ponce KJ, Wazen R, Brunski JB, Nanci A. Bone healing response in cyclically loaded implants: Comparing zero, one, and two loading sessions per day. J Mech Beav Biomed Mater. 2018; 85:152-161.

17. Casu B, Mary C, Sverzhinsky A, Fouillen A, Nanci A, Baron C. VirB8 homolog TraE from plasmid pKM101 forms a hexameric ring structure and interacts with the VirB6 homolog TraD. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115(23):5950-5955.

18. Diomede F, Gugliandolo A, Cardelli P, Merciaro I, Ettorre V, Traini T, Bedini R , Scionti D, Bramanti A, Nanci A, Caputi S, Fontana A, Mazzon E, Trubiani O. Three-dimensional printed PLA scaffold and human gingival stem cell-derived extracellulat vesicles: a new tool for bone defect repair. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2018; 9(1):104.

19. Deshaies JE, Shrekta L, Moszczynski AJ, Sidibé H, Semmler S, Fouillen A, Bennett ER, Bekenstein U, Destroismaisons L, Toutant J, Delmotte Q, Volkening K, Stabile S, Aulas A, Khalfallah Y, Soreq H, Nanci A, Strong MJ, Chabot B, Vande Velde C. TDP-43 regulates the alternative splicing of hnRNP A1 to yield an aggregation-prone variant in amyotrophic lateral slerosis. Brain. 2018; 141(5):1320-1333.

20. Rodriguez-Contreras A, Guadarrama Bello D, Flynn S, Variola F, Wuest JD, Nanci A. Chemical nanocavitation of surfaces to enhance the utility of stainless as a medical material. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2018; 161:677-687.

21. Guadarrama Bello D, Fouillen A, Badia A, Nanci A. A nanoporous titanium surface promotes the maturation of focal adhesions and formation of filopodia with distinctive nanoscale protusions by osteogenic cells. Acta Biomater. 2017; 60:339-349.

22. Fouillen A, Dos Santos Neves J, Mary C, Castonguay JD, Moffatt P, Baron C, Nanci A. Interactions of AMTN, ODAM and SCPPPQ1 proteins of a specialized basal lamina that attaches epithelial cells to tooth mineral. Sci Rep 2017; 7:46683.

23. Moffatt P, Geng Y, Lamplugh L, Nanci A, Roughley PJ. Absence of the dermatan sulfate chain of decorin does not affect mouse development. J Negat Results Biomed. 2017;16(1):7.

24. Smart J, Fouillen A, Casu B, Nanci A, Baron C. Cag-delta (Cag3) protein from the Helicobacter pylori 26695 cag type IV secretion system forms ring-like supramolecular assemblies. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2017;364(1).

25. Wazen RM, Viegas-Costa LC, Fouillen A, Moffatt P, Adair-Kirk TL, Senior RM, Nanci A. Laminin γ2 knockout mice rescued with the human protein exhibit enamel maturation defects.Matrix Biol. 2016;52-54:207-18.

26. Wazen RM, Moffatt P, Ponce KJ, Kuroda S, Nishio C, Nanci A. Inactivation of the Odontogenic ameloblast-associated gene affects the integrity of the junctional epithelium and gingival healing. Eur Cell Mater. 2015; 28;30:187-99.

27. Maeda Y, Kuroda S, Ganzorig K, Wazen RM, Nanci A, Tanaka E. Histomorphometric analysis of overloading on palatal tooth movement into the maxillary sinus. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2015; 148(3):423-30.

28. Maia LP, Reino DM, Muglia VA, Almeida AL, Nanci A, Wazen RM, de Oliveira PT, Palioto DB, Novaes AB Jr. Influence of periodontal tissue thickness on buccal plate remodelling on immediate implants with xenograft. J Clin Periodontol. 2015; 42(6):590-8.

29. Moffatt P, Wazen RM, Dos Santos Neves J, Nanci A. Characterisation of secretory calcium-binding phosphoprotein-proline-glutamine-rich 1: a novel basal lamina component expressed at cell-tooth interfaces. Cell Tissue Res. 2014;358(3):843-55.

30. Ariganello MB, Omelon S, Variola F, Wazen RM, Moffatt P, Nanci A. Osteogenic cell cultures cannot utilize exogenous sources of synthetic polyphosphate for mineralization. J Cell Biochem. 2014;115(12):2089-102.

31. Variola F, Zalzal SF, Leduc A, Barbeau J, Nanci A . Oxidative nanopatterning of titanium generates mesoporous surfaces with antimicrobial properties. Int J Nanomedicine. 2014; 9:2319-25.

32. Omelon S, Ariganello M, Bonucci E, Grynpas M, Nanci A. A review of phosphate mineral nucleation in biology and geobiology. Calcif Tissue Int. 2013;93(4):382-96.

33. Nishio C, Wazen R, Moffatt P, Nanci A. Expression of odontogenic ameloblast-associated and amelotin proteins in the junctional epithelium. Periodontol 2000. 2013; 63(1):59-66.

34. Wazen RM, Currey JA, Guoc H, Brunski, JB, Helms JA, Nanci A.Micromotion-induced strain fields influence early stages of repair at bone-implant interfaces. Acta Biomaterialia. 2013; 9(5):6663-74

35. Pereira KK, Alves OC, Novaes AB Jr, de Oliveira FS, Yi JH, Zaniquelli O, Wolf-Brandstetter C, Scharnweber D, Variola F, Nanci A, Rosa AL, de Oliveira PT. Progression of osteogenic cell cultures grown on microtopographic titanium coated with calcium phosphate and functionalized with a type I collagen-derived peptide. J Periodontol, 2013;84(8):1199-210

36. Wazen RM, Kuroda S, Nishio C, Brunski JB, Nanci A. Gene expression profiling by DNA microarray and histomorphometric analyses of healing bone around nanotextured implants. Nanomedicine, 2013;8(9):1385-95.

37. Kuroda S, Wazen RM, Moffatt P, Nanci A (2013): Mechanical stress induces bone formation in the maxillary sinus in a short-term mouse model. Clin Oral Invest, 17: 131-137.

38. Lacruz RS, Smith CE, Moffatt P, Chang EH, Bromage TG, Bringas Jr P, Nanci A, Baniwal SK, Zabner J, Welsh MJ, Kurtz I, Paine ML (2012): Requirements for ion and solute transport, and pH regulation, during enamel maturation. J Cell Physiol, 227: 1776–1785. 

39. Dos Santos Neves J, Wazen RM, Kuroda S, Francis Zalzal S, Moffatt P, Nanci A (2012): Odontogenic ameloblast-associated and amelotin are novel basal lamina components. Histochem Cell Biol, 137:329–338.

40. Bartlett JD, Yamakoshi Y, Simmer JP, Nanci A, Smith CE (2011): MMP20 Cleaves E-Cadherin and influences ameloblast development.Cells Tissues Organs, 194: 222-226.

41. Bartlett JD, Skobe Z, Nanci A, Smith CE (2011): Matrix metalloproteinase 20 promotes a smooth enamel surface, a strong dentino–enamel junction, and a decussating enamel rod pattern. Eur J Oral Sci, 119 (Suppl. 1) : 199-205.

42. Kuroda S, Wazen RM, Moffatt P, Nanci A (2011): Ameloblastin is not implicated in bone remodeling and repair. Eur Cells Mater, 22: 56-67.

43. Duong A, Dubois M-A, Maris T, Métivaud V, Yi J-H, Nanci A, Rocherfort A, Wuest JD (2011): Engineering homologous molecular organization in 2D and 3D cocrystallization of pyridyl-substituted diaminotriazines with alkanecarboxylic acids. J Phys Chem C, 115: 12908–12919 

44. Bueno RBL, Adachi P, Castro-Raucci LMS, Rosa AL, Nanci A, Tambasco de Oliveira P (2011): Oxidative nanopatterning of titanium surfaces promotes production and extracellular accumulation of osteopontin. Braz Dent J, 22: 179-184.

45. Variola F, Brunski JB, Orsini G, Tambasco de Oliveira P, Wazen RM, Nanci A (2011): Nanoscale surface modifications of medically relevant metals: state-of-the art and perspectives. Nanoscale, 3:335-353.

46. Richert L, Variola F, Rosei F, Wuest JD,