The present disclosure relates to methods for characterizing and diagnosing dental diseases. In particular, the present disclosure relates to methods for characterizing and diagnosing dental disease (e.g., gingivitis and periodontal disease) based on levels of AI-2 in oral fluids and plaque.

The invention relates to generation and use of cellular and humoral responses for the prevention and treatment of P. gingivalis related conditions and diseases.

The present invention provides a determination method, a fluorescence measurement device, and a test agent, each of which can easily determine a genotype of a microorganism responsible for causing a periodontal disease, based on enzyme activity. The determination method of determining a genotype of the microorganism responsible for periodontal disease includes the steps of: irradiating a liquid sample with excitation light, the liquid sample including a bacterial body or a bacterial body-based extractive matter of the microorganism responsible for periodontal disease and a reagent in which a substrate for an enzyme reaction by the microorganism responsible for periodontal disease is fluorescently labeled, the liquid sample having a pH value thereof having been adjusted to not lower than pH 7.0 and not higher than pH 8.5 and then having been subjected to the enzyme reaction; and determining the genotype based on an intensity of fluorescence emitted from the liquid sample.

The present invention relates to an assay for use in a method of determining the oral health status of a canine animal by identifying certain bacteria present or absent in a sample taken from the animal, and applying the information set out herein for each identified bacteria to statistical models in order to determine the oral health status of the animal.

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe a conjugate comprising a mesoporous nanoparticle having a plurality of pores, wherein the mesoporous nanoparticle is positively charged, wherein an active agent is disposed in the pore; and a plurality of metal nanoclusters, wherein the metal nanocluster has a negative charge, wherein a gate agent is attached to the metal nanocluster. Embodiments of the present disclosure also describe a method of using a conjugate comprising exposing a conjugate to microbes sufficient to release an active agent and treating the microbes with the released active agent. Embodiments of the present disclosure further describe a method of using a conjugate comprising exposing a conjugate to microbes and detecting a presence of the microbes.

Herein is reported a method for determining the binding affinity of the binding sites of a bivalent full length antibody of the human IgG1 subclass to a homo-multimeric antigen comprising the steps of i) incubating a mixture comprising the antibody and a polypeptide that is derived from lysine-gingipain of Porphyromonas gingivalis at a pH of from pH 7.5 to pH 8.5, in the presence of a reducing agent, at a temperature of from 30° C. to 42° C., for time of from 10 min. to 240 min. to cleave the antibody into Fabs and Fc-region, and ii) determining the binding affinity of the Fabs of the antibody for its antigen using a surface plasmon resonance method by directly applying the incubated reaction mixture obtained in the previous step in the surface plasmon resonance method and therewith determining the binding affinity of the binding sites of the bivalent full length antibody of the human IgG1 subclass.

Herein is reported a method for determining the binding interaction with a multimeric antigen of an antibody of the human IgG1 subclass that has at least two binding sites specifically binding to the antigen comprising the steps of 1) determining the binding affinity of the antibody for the multimeric antigen, and 2) incubating a mixture comprising the antibody and a polypeptide that is derived from lysine-gingipain of Porphyromonas gingivalis under conditions and for a time sufficient to cleave the antibody into Fabs and Fc-region, and determining the binding affinity of the Fabs of the antibody for the multimeric, whereby the binding affinity of the antibody to the multimeric antigen to be affinity-driven if the binding affinity determined in both steps are comparable and to be avidity-driven if the binding affinity determined in both steps are different.

The present invention relates to a system and a device for use in the diagnosis of an oral disease. Methods, kits and compositions for use in the diagnosis of oral disease are also provided. More particularly, the invention relates to a system comprising a probe which is configured to collect a fluid sample from the oral cavity of a subject, and a detector which is configured to detect in the fluid sample the presence and/or concentration of an analyte which is indicative of the oral disease.

The invention relates to generation and use of cellular and humoral responses for the prevention and treatment of P. gingivalis related conditions and diseases.

The present disclosure relates to methods for characterizing and diagnosing dental diseases. In particular, the present disclosure relates to methods for characterizing and diagnosing dental disease (e.g., gingivitis and periodontal disease) based on levels of AI-2 in oral fluids and plaque.