by Chen Gen
For those children who have not replaced their primary teeth, new teeth will grow quickly if they lose their teeth. This is not the case for adults who have lost their teeth. In fact, although the oral cavity of a normal adult has 32 teeth, about 1% of the population has too many or missing teeth due to congenital disease .
Recently, by studying the genetic basis behind the formation of teeth during early human development, a team of scientists from Kyoto University and nearby universities have found a combination of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and Wnt On the molecule. The researchers point out that this study reveals new clues on how to help adults with congenital diseases regenerate their teeth.
Modern medicine has found that the morphogenesis of a single tooth depends on the interaction of several molecules, including BMP, or bone morphogenetic protein, and Wnt signaling. BMP and Wnt are not only involved in the development of teeth, they can also regulate the growth of various organs and tissues at various stages of human development, corresponding to a gene called uterine sensitization (USAG-1 for short) ).
On this basis, the research team carried out a series of experiments on mice and ferret, in order to reveal how they affect the development of teeth, and finally find the use of these processes to regenerate and treat dental diseases New method. Previous studies have shown that USAG-1 interacts with BMP and Wnt, so scientists speculate that they may provide new ways to interfere with the behavior of USAG-1.
Therefore, scientists have studied the effects of several monoclonal antibodies against USAG-1. Monoclonal antibodies are commonly used in the treatment of cancer, arthritis and vaccine development. The results showed that some antibodies caused low birth rate and survival rate of mice, confirming the importance of BMP and Wnt to the whole body growth.
However, a promising antibody only disrupted the interaction between USAG-1 and BMP. Experiments with this antibody show that the BMP signal is essential for determining the number of teeth in mice. Moreover, a single administration is enough to grow a whole tooth. Subsequent experiments showed that ferrets also showed the same results.
This study demonstrates the benefits of monoclonal antibodies for tooth regeneration for the first time, reflecting that antibodies against uterine sensitization-related genes-1 or USAG-1 stimulate the teeth of mice with congenital dental hypoplasia The possibility of growth, and provides a new therapeutic framework for clinical problems that can only be solved by implants and other artificial measures. The research results have been published in "Science Progress".
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