Single-cell transcriptome analysis reveals periodontal ligament fibroblast heterogeneity with distinct IL-1β and...

Periodontitis (PD) is an inflammatory disease with alveolar bone destruction by osteoclasts (OCs). In PD, both inflammation and OC activation are significantly influenced by periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDL-Fib). Yet, whether PDL-Fib has heterogeneity and whether distinct PDL-Fib subsets have specific functions have not been investigated. In this study, we discovered the complexity of PDL-Fib in PD, utilizing single-cell RNA sequencing data from human PD patients. We identified distinct subpopulations of PDL-Fib: one expressing interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and another expressing the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL), both crucial in OC differentiation and bone resorption. In periodontal tissues of mice with PD, active IL-1β, cleaved caspase 1, and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor 3 (NLPR3) were significantly elevated, implicating the NLRP3 inflammasome in IL-1β production. Upon stimulation of PDL-Fib with LPS from Porphyromonas gingivalis (pg), the most well-characterized periodontal bacteria, a more rapid increase in IL-1β, followed by RANKL induction, was observed. IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), another LPS-responsive cytokine, effectively increased RANKL in PDL-Fib, suggesting an indirect effect of pgLPS through IL-1β and TNF-α on RANKL induction. Immunohistological analyses of mouse periodontal tissues also showed markedly elevated levels of IL-1β and RANKL upon PD induction and displayed separate locations of IL-1β-expressing PDL-Fib and RANKL-expressing PDL-Fib in PD. The heterogenic feature of fibroblasts expressing IL-1β and RANKL was also mirrored in our combined cross-tissue single-cell RNA sequencing datasets analysis. In summary, our study elucidates the heterogeneity of PDL-Fib, highlighting distinct functional groups for producing RANKL and IL-1β, which collectively promote OC generation and bone destruction in PD.