Australian researchers have announced they have developed a vaccine to treat peridontitis. Following more than ten years of research, scientists from The University of Melbourne and biopharmaceutical company CSL Limited, working together at the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Oral Health Science, have identified candidate vaccine antigens for periodontitis.

'Periodontitis is a serious disease and dentists face a major challenge in treating it, because most people will not know they have the disease until it is too late and the infection has progressed to advanced stages. Traditional treatment for the disease often involves scaling and cleaning and even surgery in an effort to contain the bacterial infection' said Professor Eric Reynolds, AO and CEO of the CRC for Oral Health Science and the Head of the University of Melbourne's Dental School.

The new vaccine approach targets the 'ring leader' of a group of pathogenic bacteria that cause periodontitis, the bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis. 'We are very excited about this novel approach to the disease,' said Professor Reynolds. 'It will provide dentists and patients with a specific treatment which prevents disease progression, rather than managing its symptoms and damaging consequences.'

The vaccine development programme involves identifying the bacterial peptides and proteins that trigger the immune response, and using these as the basis of vaccines.

The vaccines are being trialled in mouse models of periodontal disease and following a positive response, a vaccine will progress to clinical trials.