Role of Candida albicans-Secreted Aspartyl Proteinases (Saps) in Severe Early Childhood Caries |
| |
Authors: | Wenqing Li Dongsheng Yu Shuo Gao Jiacheng Lin Zhuoyu Chen Wei Zhao |
| |
Affiliation: | Guanghua School of Stomatology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510055, China; E-Mails: (W.L.); (D.Y.); (S.G.); (J.L.); (Z.C.) |
| |
Abstract: | Candida albicans is strongly associated with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). However, the roles of secreted aspartyl proteinases (Saps), an important virulence factor of C. albicans, in the progress of S-ECC are not clear. In our study, the Saps activities were evaluated by the yeast nitrogen base–bovine serum albumi (YNB–BSA) agar plate method and by the MTT method with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the substrate. Genotypes of C. albicans and gene expression of Sap1–5 were evaluated. The relationships of Saps activities and genotypes with S-ECC were analyzed. The results showed that enzyme activities of Saps in the S-ECC group were significantly higher than those in the caries free (CF) group (p < 0.05). Genotypes A, B and C were detected in the S-ECC group, and genotypes A and C were detected in the CF group. In the genotype A group, Saps activity in the S-ECC group was significantly different from that in the CF group (p < 0.05). The gene expression level of Sap1 in the S-ECC group was significantly higher than that in the CF group (p = 0.001), while Sap4 expression was significantly lower than that in the CF group (p = 0.029). It can be concluded that Sap1–5 are the predominant proteinase genes expressed in C. albicans from dental biofilm and Sap1 may play an important role in the development of S-ECC. |
| |
Keywords: | severe early childhood caries Candida albicans Saps protease activity genotype |
|
|