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Proteomic Analysis of the Initial Oral Pellicle in Caries-Active and Caries-Free Individuals
Simone Trautmann1, Ahmad Barghash2,3, Claudia Fecher-Trost4
1Clinic of Operative Dentistry, Periodontology and Preventive Dentistry, University Hospital, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
Purpose:
To 1) elucidate individual proteomic profiles of the 3-min biofilm of caries-active and caries-free individuals and 2) compare these proteomic profiles against the background of caries.
Experimental Design:
The initial oral pellicle of 12 caries-active and 12 caries-free individuals is generated in situ on ceramics specimens. The individual, host-specific proteomic profiles of this basic pellicle layer are analyzed by a chemical elution protocol combined with an elaborate mass spectrometry and evaluated bioinformatically.
Results:
A total of 1188 different proteins are identified. Additionally, 68 proteins are present in the profiles of all individuals, suggesting them as ubiquitously occurring base-proteins of the initial human pellicle. Thereof, the single profiles exhibit high inter-individual differences independent of their group affiliation, stating the initial pellicle to represent a rather "individual fingerprint". Quantitative analyses imply slight indication for 23 proteins potentially capable of counting for caries-specific biomarkers.
Conclusions And Clinical Relevance:
The introduced protocol enables the individual analysis of minimal protein amounts and allows for highly precise characterizations and comparisons of individual proteomic profiles. The results contain a considerable higher extent of protein identifications and might serve as a base for future large scale analyzes to identify discrimination factors for the development of caries susceptibility tests.
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