A study published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology led by George Hajishengallis, Thomas W. Evans Centennial Professor in Penn’s School of Dental Medicine’s Department of Microbiology, and John D. Lambris, Dr. Ralph and Sallie Weaver Professor of Research Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has provided new hope that periodontitis can be effectively reversed. The study delivered Cp40, an inhibitor of protein C3, to the periodontal tissue just once a week, and this reversed naturally occurring chronic periodontitis inflammation in a preclinical model. This study builds on earlier work by Hajishengallis, Lambris and colleagues which identified C3 as a promising target for treating periodontal disease. In the future, the researchers are planning to pursue a Phase 1 safety and efficacy study in human volunteers.
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