Plasminogen - "bigger than we ever expected"There was talk a while back that managment felt plasminogen may be bigger than what anyone at PLI ever realized for it's vast applications
This paper here is a must read to understand the research going on in the 3 main areas discussed in the paper and their findings - plasminogen is effective in healing diabetic foot ulcers, wound/burn healing and the topic here - gum disease (a billion dollar market) !!!
Here's a link to the paper - the conclusion at the end summarizes their research!!!
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:583716/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Gum disease affects 90% of the worlds population and can be a key contributor to cancer and diabetes due to inflammation in the body
This paper suggests that Plasminogen can be a treatment for periodontitis (gum disease which leads to loss of teeth and tissues in the jaw bone affecting billions of people world wide)
In Paper I of this thesis, we show that the lack of plasminogen in mice leads to periodontitis. The intravenous restoration of plasminogen for 10 days in plasminogen-deficient mice resolved the persistent inflammation of the gum tissue and induced alveolar bone regeneration. Preventing or minimizing alveolar bone degradation is a major clinical aim in dentistry, and the restoration of bone mass is extremely difficult. The regeneration of periodontal tissues involves complex interactions between different cell types, the extracellular matrix, and local mediators such as growth factors and cytokines. There are many conventional treatments that are currently used for periodontitis, but few of them result in the complete regeneration of periodontal soft tissue [213]. The development of therapeutic treatments to treat bone diseases are more focused on inhibition of the formation or activity of osteoclasts, and far less attention has been paid to promoting bone formation [214]. Based on our data, we suggest that plasminogen could be a candidate for the treatment of periodontitis by promoting the clearance of persistent inflammation, stimulating the healing process, and, possibly, regenerating the alveolar bone.