title: Toll gates: An emerging therapeutic target.
abstract: Innate immune system forms the first line of defense against microbial infections, as it exerts an immediate response. Innate immunity works through Toll-like receptors (TLRs) which functions as primary sensors of pathogens. TLR activates multiple signaling cascades leading to the induction of genes responsible for the release of inflammatory cytokines and type I interferon. Thus, they induce antimicrobial responses and also have an instructive role in adaptive immunity. However, TLR-mediated inflammation is said to be responsible for many of the destructive host responses in inflammatory diseases like periodontitis. Hence, therapeutics targeting TLRs are being used to treat disease such as HIV, Hepatitis B, asthma etc. Recently, synthetic TLR agonists are tried as novel vaccine adjuvant in treating periodontal diseases. This paper reviews the scope of TLR-based therapeutics in treating periodontitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Tamil Nadu Government Dental College and Hospital, Affiliated to Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Rajendran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maheaswari
authors.affiliation: Consultant Periodontist, Apollo White Dental, T. Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Kiruthika
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sivasankar
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Tamil Nadu Government Dental College and Hospital, Affiliated to Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Sathya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Subbarayan
keywords: Periodontitis; toll like receptor agonists; toll like receptors