Odontoblast-like cells and dental pulp fibroblasts stimulated with LTA, poly(I:C) and LPS.

Odontoblasts and fibroblasts are suspected to influence the innate immune response triggered in the dental pulp by micro-organisms that progressively invade the human tooth during the carious process. To determine whether they differ in their responses to oral pathogens, we performed a systematic comparative analysis of odontoblast-like cell and pulp fibroblast responses to TLR2, TLR3 and TLR4 specific agonists (lipoteichoic acid [LTA], double-stranded RNA and lipopolysaccharide [LPS], respectively). Cells responded to these agonists by differential up-regulation of chemokine gene expression. CXCL2 and CXCL10 were thus increased by LTA only in odontoblast-like cells, while LPS increased CCL7, CCL26 and CXCL11 only in fibroblasts. These data suggest that odontoblasts and pulp fibroblasts differ in their innate immune responses to oral micro-organisms that invade the pulp tissue. Keywords: cell type comparaison Dental pulp fibroblasts and Odontoblast-like cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, ipoteichoic acid or poly(I:C), or unstimulated. Triplicates.