Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Microbiology
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1501028

Prevalence of the oral pathogen Filifactor alocis and its FtxA toxin related to clinical parameters and presence of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

Provisionally accepted
Zeinab Razooqi Zeinab Razooqi 1,2Nabil Khzam Nabil Khzam 3Mahina L´Hostis Mahina L´Hostis 1Georgios N. Belibasakis Georgios N. Belibasakis 4Anders Johansson Anders Johansson 2Jan Oscarsson Jan Oscarsson 1*
  • 1 Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  • 2 Oral Microbiology, Department of Odontology, Umeå University, Umea, Sweden
  • 3 University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 4 Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The Gram-positive organism, Filifactor alocis is implicated in multiple oral diseases including periodontitis, and approximately 50% of known strains encode and produce a recently identified repeat-in-toxin (RTX) protein, FtxA, partly homologous to the Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans leukotoxin. By assessing a longitudinal Ghanaian study population of adolescents, we recently identified a possible correlation between F. alocis levels, ftxA gene carriage, and progression of clinical attachment loss (CAL). To extend knowledge on the possible significance of F. alocis and its FtxA in periodontal disease, we have in the present work analyzed saliva samples in an independent cohort of periodontitis (n=156), collected at two private periodontal specialist practices in Perth, Western Australia. The present results corroborate that high loads of F. alocis and presence of its ftxA gene together are associated with parameters of periodontal tissue destruction and severity. Moreover, among the individuals carrying A. actinomycetemcomitans, a majority also exhibited an ftxA-positive F. alocis, supporting the notion of a synergistic behaviour of these two species. This emphasizes that F. alocis and its ftxA are involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis and may have ecological roles, and diagnostic as well as prognostic implications for the disease.

    Keywords: Filifactor alocis, FtxA, RTX toxin, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Periodontitis, clinical attachment loss (CAL) and parameters

    Received: 24 Sep 2024; Accepted: 19 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Razooqi, Khzam, L´Hostis, Belibasakis, Johansson and Oscarsson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jan Oscarsson, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.