In a healthy mouth, the diverse communities of microbes collectively known as the oral microbiome live in harmony with one another. They exist in a state of balance, or homeostasis. When that balance is disturbed—through smoking cigarettes, or eating lots of sugary foods, for example—some microbes capitalize on the chaos and use it to gain an upper hand. They multiply rapidly and grow out of control.
Luckily, our bodies have ways of keeping these opportunistic pathogenic bacteria in check. Dr. Xuesong He, Associate Member of Staff at The Forsyth Institute, has developed a hypothesis to explain one of these potential defense mechanisms. His prior research suggests that human epithelial cells produce specific molecules to prevent overgrowth of an opportunistic pathogen in the oral cavity known as Fusobacteria. He and his co-investigators recently received a 5-year Research Project Grant (R01) from the NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to investigate this host-microbial interaction.
