Complement inhibition in pre-clinical models of periodontitis and prospects for clinical application

Highlights:

• Consistently, subsequent genetic and pharmacological studies in rodents have implicated the central complement component C3 and downstream signaling pathways in periodontal host-microbe interactions that promote dysbiosis and inflammatory bone loss.
• This review discusses these mechanistic advances and moreover focuses on the compstatin family of C3 inhibitors as a novel approach to treat periodontitis.
• In this regard, local application of the current lead analog Cp40 was recently shown to block both inducible and naturally occurring periodontitis in non-human primates.
• Conclusion: These promising results from non-human primate studies and the parallel development of Cp40 for clinical use highlight the feasibility for developing an adjunctive, C3-targeted therapy for human periodontitis.