Key points from article :
TMDU researchers found that a common oral pathogen, called Porphyromonas gingivalis, can worsen heart attack damage.
They infected cardiac myocytes and mice with P. gingivalis and found that it interfered with the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes, which is crucial for cellular repair.
Mice infected with wild-type P. gingivalis had more severe myocardial infarction than those infected with a mutant P. gingivalis lacking gingipain, a virulence factor that inhibits autophagy.
Treating P. gingivalis infection could help reduce the risk of fatal heart attack.
The study was published in the International Journal of Oral Science.
