Novel Therapy for Dental Caries

Our research is based on the report that certain monoclonal antibodies that recognize a 185kDa surfantigen present on the cariogenic bacterium, Streptococcus mutants, when applied to human teeth, aftprofessional cleaning and chlorhexidine treatment, prevent recolonization of the mouth by S. mutantsPrevious studies in rhesus monkeys showed that this treatment prevented the emergence of S. mutantsand the development of dental caries when the monkeys were maintained on a high sucrose diet. As theproduction of monoclonal antibodies by current technologies is prohibitively high, development of sutreatments for caries prevention will require radically different approaches to antibody production.generate such antibodies ultimately in edible plant material that would not only produce the large aalso substantially reduce or even eliminate much of the expensive processing required to yield a praI we will construct vectors containing (separately) heavy and light chain imunoglobulin genes withrepresenting the known sequence of a mouse monoclonal antibody (Guy's 13) to the 185kDa protein suitin tobacco plants (Specific Aim 1). In Specific Aim 2, expression of the recombinant antibodies willtissue culture, as a quicker procedure than growing plants by conventional means. In Phase II, it isplantibodies in alfalfa, and to test the ability of this material to reduce colonization of S. mutancaries.