Utility of PDL progenitors for in vivo tissue regeneration:  a report of 3 cases.
OBJECTIVE
Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disorder with widespread morbidities involving both oral and systemic health. The primary goal of periodontal treatment is the regeneration of the lost or diseased periodontium. In this study, we retrospectively examined feasibility and safety of reconstructing the periodontal intrabony defects with autologous periodontal ligament progenitor (PDLP) implantation in three patients.


METHODS
In this retrospective pilot study, we treated 16 teeth with at least one deep intrabony defect of probing depth (PD) > OR = 6 mm with PDLP transplantation and evaluated clinical outcome measures in terms of probing depth, gingival recession and attachment gain for a duration of 32-72 months. Furthermore, we compare PDLPs with standard PDL stem cells (PDLSCs) and confirmed that PDLPs possessed progenitor characters.


RESULTS
Clinical examination indicated that transplantationof PDLPs may provide therapeutic benefit for the periodontal defects. All treated patients showed no adverse effects during the entire course of follow up. We also found that PDLPs were analogous to PDLSCs in terms of high proliferation, expression of mesenchymal surface molecules, multipotent differentiation, and in vivo tissue regain. However, PDLPs failed to express scleraxis, a marker of tendon, as seen in PDLSCs.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated clinical and experimental evidences supporting a potential efficacy and safety of utilizing autologous PDL cells in the treatment of human periodontitis.
Feng
F
F
Stem Bio Tek Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan.
Akiyama
K
K
Liu
Y
Y
Yamaza
T
T
Wang
T-M
TM
Chen
J-H
JH
Wang
B B
BB
Huang
G T-J
GT
Wang
S
S
Shi
S
S
D000328:Adult; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D025021:Cementogenesis; D017886:Durapatite; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008964:Molar, Third / Q000166:cytology; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D010513:Periodontal Ligament / Q000166:cytology*; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000601:surgery*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
D017886:Durapatite