Journal: Journal of Oral Microbiology
Article Title: Macrophage activation and invasion by P. gingivalis is modulated by PPAD and accessory fimbriae subunits
doi: 10.1080/20002297.2026.2638646
Figure Lengend Snippet: Phosphorylation of Akt is enhanced by PPAD and accessory fimbriae subunits, with the PI3K/Akt pathway being essential for IL-6 but not for IL-8 secretion. MDMs were infected for A) 10 min, 30 min, or 2 h with P. gingivalis ATCC 33277 WT strain (ATCC WT) and its isogenic PPAD mutant (∆PPAD), or B) for 30 min with ATCC 33277-derived PPAD: total (∆PPAD) and catalytically inactive (C351A PPAD), fimbriae: main FimA subunit (∆ fimA ), accessory subunits FimE (∆ fimE ), and FimC (∆ fimC ) mutants, or the W83 WT strain at MOI 20. Akt phosphorylation levels were determined by western blot analysis, with total Akt as a control and β -actin as the loading control. Representative blots are shown, and densitometry results ( n = 3) are presented as mean ± SEM. *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05; ns, not significant. In B), data are compared with the ATCC WT strain. C) MDMs were pretreated for 30 min with an Akt inhibitor or left untreated, then infected for 24 h at MOI 20 with P. gingivalis ATCC WT, ∆PPAD, C351A PPAD, ∆FimA, ∆FimE, ∆FimC, and W83 strains. Secretion of IL-6 and IL-8 was measured by ELISA; n = 4−7. Results are shown as mean ± SEM; **** p < 0.0001; *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05 compared to ATCC WT without Akt inhibitor; ns, not significant.
Article Snippet: We thoroughly assessed how PPAD affects inflammatory and antibacterial responses of macrophages to the fimbriated wild-type P. gingivalis strain ATCC 33277.
Techniques: Phospho-proteomics, Infection, Mutagenesis, Derivative Assay, Western Blot, Control, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay