Adam Lietzan
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Periodontitis is a chronic gum disease. It develops when the mix of bacteria in the mouth becomes unbalanced and the body responds with damaging inflammation.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biochemistry
- Topics
periodontitis
periodontal disease
gum disease
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2029
What they work on
- Identify the cellular pathways that interleukin-37 (IL-37), an anti-inflammatory cytokine, changes in oral epithelial cells challenged with microbes, using in vitro and in vivo models.
- Define the molecular interactions between IL-37 and its receptors, which are highly expressed on oral epithelial cells, to explain how it suppresses inflammation.
- Test how glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), sugar chains in the extracellular matrix of gum tissue, affect IL-37 activity during periodontal inflammation.
More about the research
Much of that inflammation is driven by the interleukin-1 (IL-1) family of cytokines, signaling molecules that cells release to coordinate immune responses. One member, interleukin-37 (IL-37), works the opposite way and calms inflammation. IL-37 is abnormally regulated in severe periodontitis. Oral epithelial cells (OECs), which line the gums and act as a barrier against infection, make large amounts of IL-37 when exposed to microbes. Still, how IL-37 acts on these cells is largely unknown.
Why it matters
Periodontitis causes chronic gum inflammation driven by an unbalanced oral microbiome. Understanding how the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-37 works in gum tissue could guide the development of new IL-37-based treatments, or improve existing ones, for periodontitis and possibly other chronic inflammatory conditions.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Shaoping Zhang
University of Iowa, IA·Microbiology & Immunology
Define how a type I interferon (IFN-I)–IL-27 pathway controls the inflammatory IL-17–neutrophil axis in a mouse model of periodontitis, a gum disease that destroys tooth-supporting bone.
Marisol Tellez Merchan
Temple University, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Build a Medical Continuity of Care Record that pulls up-to-date health measures from the Pennsylvania Health Share Exchange electronic records into dental school care at Temple.
Alex Valm
University at Albany, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether long filamentous cells at the gum line bring plaque bacteria into contact with gum epithelium to start gingivitis, by imaging intact biofilms on extracted teeth with FISH probes for up to 18 bacterial types.
The school
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: 72 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 523 research doctorates a year.
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