Enhancement of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 activity in gingival tissue and cultured fibroblasts from Down's syndrome patients.
OBJECTIVE
To identify one of the possible factors responsible for periodontal disease in Down's syndrome (trisomy 21) patients, we studied the enzyme activity and the mRNA expression pattern of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) of cultured gingival fibroblasts (GF) and fresh gingival tissues.


METHODS
Gingival tissue was used as the cell source and was biopsied at the time of dental treatment from nine patients with Down's syndrome and nine non-Down's controls. GF were cultivated in serum-free media for analyses of their MMP activities at the transcription or the protein level. The MMP activities in the supernates were measured by gelatin impregnated zymography. Relative levels of MMP mRNA from the cultured GF or freshly isolated gingival tissues were determined using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).


CONCLUSIONS
The production of the active type of MMP-2 in GF from Down's syndrome patients (D-GF) was found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the control GF (C-GF) at the protein level. The mRNA expressions of membrane-type I MMP (MT1-MMP) and MMP-2 in D-GF were constitutively augmented when compared with those of C-GF. These findings suggest that specific increase of the active form of MMP-2 in D-GF may possibly be due to the concomitant expression of MT1-MMP in the cultured cells, and this could be related to the pathogenesis of gingivitis/periodontitis associated with Down's syndrome patients.
Komatsu
T
T
Department of Dentistry for Special Patients, Kanagawa Dental College, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 238-0003, Japan.
Kubota
E
E
Sakai
N
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015153:Blotting, Western; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000201:enzymology*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000379:methods; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000201:enzymology; D005881:Gingiva / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D053504:Matrix Metalloproteinases, Membrane-Associated; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases / Q000096:biosynthesis; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D053504:Matrix Metalloproteinases, Membrane-Associated; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2