【摘要】 组织蛋白酶C(Cathepsin C, Cat C)是溶酶体半胱氨酸蛋白酶中的番木瓜蛋白酶超家族成员,可影响炎性因子和趋化因子的表达,在多种炎性疾病中发挥重要作用,但其在根尖周病中的作用尚不清楚.本研究主要探讨Cat C在根尖周病炎症进展及骨破坏中的作用.首先建立了野生型(wild type, WT)小鼠和Cat C基因敲减(Cat C knock down,Cat C KD)小鼠根尖周炎模型,通过HE染色和Micro-CT三维重建的方法验证模型建立成功.研究结果显示WT小鼠根尖周组织炎性浸润和骨破坏程度明显高于Cat C KD小鼠. Cat C在WT小鼠根尖周炎中的表达明显高于正常对照组. WT小鼠根尖周组织中核因子κB受体活化因子配体(receptor activator of NF-κB ligand, RANKL)的表达量多于CatC KD小鼠根尖周组织,且CatC与RANKL存在着显著正相关性,另外WT小鼠根尖周炎破骨细胞数量亦明显高于CatC KD小鼠.本研究表明CatC对小鼠根尖周炎症进展及骨破坏起促进作用.更多还原

【Abstract】 Although the role of cathepsin C (Cat C) in inflammation is gradually being elucidated, its function in periapical periodontitis, which is one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide, has not been studied. This study evaluated a surgically-induced model of periapical periodontitis in cathepsin C (Cat C) knock-down (KD) mice, which was constructed with a tetracycline operator, to evaluate the role of Cat C in the pathogenesis and progression of periapical periodontitis. Our results showed, for the first time, that there was a statistically significant increase in the expression of Cat C as periapical periodontitis progressed; this increase started from 1 week after surgery and reached a peak at 3 weeks after surgery, before gradually decreasing. The volume of periapical bone resorption in Cat C KD mice was significantly smaller than that in wild-type mice at 3 and 4 weeks after surgery (P<0.05). Inflammatory cell infiltration into the apical tissues of wild-type mice was also significantly higher than that of Cat C KD mice. The expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor-j B ligand (RANKL) in wild-type mice was also higher than that in Cat C KD mice. The difference in the number of osteoclasts in the apical area between the two groups was statistically significant after 2 weeks. Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between Cat C and RANKL expression (r= 0.835). Therefore, our data indicated that Cat C promoted the apical inflammation and bone destruction in mice.更多还原