IBMS BoneKEy | BoneKEy Watch

Block sclerostin to treat periodontitis?

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DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2015.94

In order to investigate a potential treatment that could reduce both periodontitis and the damage to the periodontal ligament (PDL) that it causes, Ren et al. first showed that stem cells within the PDL are responsible for the formation of the alveolar bone adjacent to the tooth during mouse development.

In periostin-null mice, an established model for periodontitis, the disease process occurs when osteocytes change shape from spindle-shaped to spherical and show an increase in Sost expression. The authors demonstrated that blocking the function of sclerostin using a specific monoclonal antibody or deleting the Sost gene to increase WNT signaling, significantly reversed periodontitis and associated bone loss around the teeth.

The authors suggest that the potential success of the anti-sclerostin antibody therapy demonstrates potential for developing new drugs to repair the damage caused by periodontitis and PDL in the 10-15% of the human population who suffer from the most severe form.

Editor's Comment: It has been previously reported that sclerostin inhibition requires periostin, a matricellular protein with beta-catenin signaling properties, and that Scl-Ab restored the altered biomechanical bone response in periostin KO mice. The current paper confirms and extends these findings by showing that sclerostin inhibition also restores the periodontal defects in these mice.

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