An organotypic oral mucosal infection model to study host-pathogen interactions

Samantha J Gould; Andrew D Foey; Vehid M Salih

doi:10.1177/20417314231197310

An organotypic oral mucosal infection model to study host-pathogen interactions

J Tissue Eng. 2023 Oct 21:14:20417314231197310. doi: 10.1177/20417314231197310. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Samantha J Gould¹, Andrew D Foey², Vehid M Salih³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK.
² School of Biomedical Health Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UK.
³ Peninsula Dental School, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UK.

Abstract

Early in vitro oral mucosal infection models (OMMs) failed to consider the suitability of the model environment to represent the host immune response. Denture stomatitis (DS) is mediated by Candida albicans, but the role of Staphylococcus aureus remains uncertain. A collagen hydrogel-based OMM containing HaCaT and HGF cell types was developed, characterised and employed to study of tissue invasion and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in response to pathogens. Models formed a robust epithelium. Despite their inflammatory baseline, 24-h infection with C. albicans, and/or S. aureus led to tissue invasion, and significantly upregulated IL-6 and IL-8 production by OMMs when compared to the unstimulated control. No significant difference in IL-6 or IL-8 production by OMMs was observed between single and dual infections. These attributes indicate that this newly developed OMM is suitable for the study of DS and could be implemented for the wider study of oral infection.

Keywords: Candida albicans; Staphylococcus aureus; denture stomatitis; infection model; oral mucosa; organotypic; tissue-engineering.