Targeted Antimicrobial Peptides: A Novel Technology to Eradicate Harmful Streptococcus Mutans

ABSTRACT

Dental caries remains the most common chronic oral disease in major developed countries. We review current anticaries approaches and a newly developed methodology called specifically targeted antimicrobial peptides (STAMP). STAMP specifically eradicates the cariogenic Streptococcus mutans bacterium in the human oral cavity but does not disturb the benign and beneficial bacteria. It promises impacts far beyond dentistry and could possibly be used to treat and prevent other microbiome-related diseases.

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Notes on contributors

Lihong Guo

Lihong Guo, PhD, DDS, is a researcher and a dentist at the Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangxhou, China. In her previous work at the University of California, Los Angeles, she was a part of developing STAMP C16G2, which is reviewed here. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.

Anna Edlund

Anna Edlund, PhD, is the principal investigator of an NIH-funded research project at J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Her research focuses on understanding oral pathogen virulence within complex oral biofilms. She is funded by NIH/NIDCR (R00DE024543-03). Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.