Department of Preventive Dentistry, Periodontology and Implant Biology, School of Dentistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Arch Oral Biol. 2012 Jul;57(7):865-9. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2012.01.008. Epub 2012 Feb 13.
Antimicrobial peptides are important components of innate immunity, especially in the unique environment of the oral cavity. Lack of the human cathelicidin LL-37 has been implicated in severe periodontitis, whilst high salivary levels of LL-37 seem to increase caries resistance. Limited data exists about the concentration of LL-37 in saliva of young children. In this study, the salivary concentration of LL-37 was examined in relation to age, gender, type of dentition (primary, mixed or permanent) and caries experience of children.
Unstimulated whole saliva was collected from 49 systemically healthy and gingivitis free children aged 2-18 years old. Their caries activity was recorded. The salivary LL-37 concentration was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
LL-37 was detected in all saliva samples. Its concentration varied widely, with girls exhibiting higher peptide levels than boys. A positive correlation of the LL-37 concentration was observed with age. Children with primary dentition had significantly lower peptide concentration than those with mixed or permanent dentition. Significantly lower concentrations of LL-37 were also found in children with high caries activity, compared to caries free children or to children with low to moderate caries activity.
Our results reinforce the belief that LL-37 is an important molecule of immunity in the oral environment and it seems to play a protective role against caries.
抗菌肽是先天免疫的重要组成部分，在口腔的独特环境中尤其如此。缺乏人类防御素 LL-37 与严重牙周炎有关，而唾液中 LL-37 水平较高似乎能增加抗龋能力。关于幼儿唾液中 LL-37 的浓度，目前数据有限。本研究旨在探讨唾液 LL-37 浓度与年龄、性别、牙列类型（乳牙、混合牙列或恒牙）和儿童龋齿经历的关系。
从 49 名全身健康、无牙龈炎的 2-18 岁儿童中采集非刺激性全唾液。记录他们的龋齿活动情况。采用酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）测定唾液中 LL-37 的浓度。
所有唾液样本中均检测到 LL-37。其浓度差异很大，女孩的肽水平高于男孩。LL-37 浓度与年龄呈正相关。与混合牙列或恒牙列的儿童相比，乳牙列的儿童肽浓度显著较低。与无龋或低中度龋活动的儿童相比，龋活性高的儿童的 LL-37 浓度也显著较低。
我们的研究结果进一步证实了 LL-37 是口腔环境中一种重要的免疫分子，它似乎对龋齿具有保护作用。
