A natural therapeutic approach for the treatment of periodontitis by MK615. Issue 5 (November 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Morimoto-Yamashita, Yoko; Kawakami, Yoshiko; Tatsuyama, Syoko; Miyashita, Keiko; Emoto, Makiko; Kikuchi, Kiyoshi; Kawahara, Ko-ichi; Tokuda, Masayuki
• Is Part Of: Medical hypotheses. Volume 85:Issue 5(2015)
• Page Start: 618
• Page End: 621
• Publication Date: 2015-11
• Subjects: Medicine -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Periodicals; Médecine -- Périodiques; Medicine; Periodicals; 610
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2015.07.028
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-9877

Abstract

<abstract xml:lang="en" abstract-type="author" id="ab005"> <title id="st005">Abstract</title> <sec> <p id="sp0005">Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the tooth-supporting tissues. Gingival fibroblasts are the most abundant cells in periodontal tissues and they participate actively in the host inflammatory response to periodontal pathogens that is known to mediate local tissue destruction in periodontitis. The Japanese apricot, known as <italic>Ume</italic> in Japanese, has been a traditional Japanese medicine for centuries and is a familiar and commonly consumed food. The health benefits of <italic>Ume</italic> are widely recognized and have been confirmed in recent studies showing that MK615, an extract of compounds from <italic>Ume</italic>, has strong anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the potential role of MK615 in oral health is unknown. We hypothesized that the anti-inflammatory activities of MK615 could be exploited to inhibit the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) produced by periodontal bacterial pathogens, such as <italic>Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans</italic> and <italic>Porphyromonas gingivalis</italic>. Here, we show that LPS-induced interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 production by gingival fibroblasts was dose-dependently inhibited by MK615. As a potent inhibitor of the inflammatory responses induced by periodontal pathogens, MK615 merits further testing as a therapeutic agent in inflammatory diseases such as periodontitis.</p> </sec> </abstract>