Periodontal Disease in Individuals With a Genetic Risk of Developing Arthritis and Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Recent consensus emphasizes the importance of studying individuals at risk for rheumatoid arthritis (pre-RA) and those with early RA (eRA). Periodontal tissues have been recently evaluated, but these studies are limited. To evaluate the periodontal condition, immunoglobulin (Ig)G subclasses against Porphyromonas gingivalis in individuals with pre-RA and eRA were compared with controls to establish an association between periodontal infection markers and rheumatic activity. METHODS: Rheumatologic and periodontal condition was evaluated in 119 individuals with pre-RA, 48 patients with eRA, and matched controls. P. gingivalis IgG1 and IgG2 were analyzed. C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), rheumatoid factor, anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs), and RA activity were measured. The groups were compared with McNemar test and paired t-test. Conditional logistic regression was performed for pre-RA confounders, and χ(2) test was used to evaluate periodontal variables and RA activity indices. RESULTS: Pre-RA individuals showed significantly higher levels of plaque index (P = 0.01) and bleeding on probing (P = 0.03) and higher severity of periodontal disease (P = 0.02). Periodontitis was associated with pre-RA (odds ratio, 3.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.64 to 7.01) but not with eRA. In pre-RA, P. gingivalis-specific IgG2 was associated with ACPAs (P = 0.049) and disease severity visual analog scale (P = 0.03). In eRA, IgG2 against P. gingivalis was associated with ESR (P = 0.046) and ACPAs (P = 0.04). P. gingivalis was associated with ACPAs (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that individuals with pre-RA have significant inflammatory periodontal involvement. There was a significant association between IgG against P. gingivalis and ACPAs in pre-RA and markers of RA activity in individuals with eRA.

Evaluation of two human dental pulp stem cell cryopreservation methods.

Dental pulp is a promising source of mesenchymal stem cells for use in cell therapy and regenerative medicine. Methods for storing stem cells with minimum compromise of cell viability, differentiation capacity and function should be developed for clinical and research applications. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) isolated and cryopreserved for 1, 7 and 30 days maintain viability and expression of specific stem cell markers. Human dental pulp stem cells were isolated from 23 healthy patients aged 18 to 31 years. Dental pulp was enzymatically dissociated, and CD105+ cells were separated using the Miltenyi™ system. The hDPSCs were cryopreserved using the Kamath and Papaccio methods. Post-cryopreservation viability was measured by flow cytometry (7AAD) and by the expression of the phenotype markers CD105+/ CD73+, CD34-/CD45-. The Papaccio method showed greater cell viability for cells that had been frozen for 30 days (59.5%) than the Kamath method (56.2%), while the Kamath method provided better results for 1 day (65.5%) and 7 days (56%). Post-cryopreservation expression of the markers CD105+/CD34- was greater after 1 and 7 days with the Kamath method and CD105+/CD45- were expressed after all 3 cryopreservation times. There was greater expression of CD73+ in the hDPSCs after 1 and 7 days with the Kamath method, and after 30 days with the Papaccio method. These results suggest that hDPSCs express mesenchymal stem cell markers after cryopreservation. However, cryopreservation time may affect marker expression, probably by altering the spatialconfiguration of cell membrane proteins or by compromising cells at a certain level of differentiation.