Diagnostic tools for oral infections based on artificial receptors

Periodontal disease ranks among the most expensive health conditions to treat, asreported by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is due to the fact thatdiagnosis is based on several specific clinical criteria that employ methods suchas inspection, palpation, probing, and interpretation of radiographic images.However, since these diagnostic tools do not provide information about patientsat risk of developing severe stage periodontal disease, patients are oftenovertreated. Porphyromonas gingivalis is a prevalent bacterium in thesubgingival crevice of patients with periodontal disease and has been termed akeystone pathogen in these conditions. P. gingivalis together with its enzymes,Rgp and Kgp, is therefore of interest as potential biomarkers on which to builddiagnostic tools based on artificial receptors. Firstly, molecularly imprintedpolymers using either the native enzymes or short sequence epitopes from themcan be used to determine the expression level of the enzymes in samples.Secondly, the enzymatic activity can be determined by recording changes inelectrochemical signals before and after hydrolysis of a specially designedpeptide sequence selective for one of the enzymes. Finally, reversible selfassembledmonolayers bearing ligands specific for bacterial adhesion throughmultivalent interactions can potentially be employed to selectively separate anddetect P. gingivalis. Together, they form the foundation for designing acommercially exploitable biosensor that combines detection methods to improvethe accuracy of diagnosis.
Papers III and IV in dissertation are manuscripts.Paper III and IV is not included in the fulltext online