Different Roles of Odontoblasts and Fibroblasts in Immunity

Odontoblasts and fibroblasts are suspected to influence the innate immune response triggered in the dental pulp by micro-organisms that progressively invade the human tooth during the caries process. To determine whether they differ in their responses to oral pathogens, we performed a systematic comparative analysis of odontoblast-like cell and pulp fibroblast responses to TLR2-, TLR3-, and TLR4-specific agonists (lipoteichoic acid [LTA], double-stranded RNA, and lipopolysaccharide [LPS], respectively). Cells responded to these agonists by differential up-regulation of chemokine gene expression. CXCL2 and CXCL10 were thus increased by LTA only in odontoblast-like cells, while LPS increased CCL7, CCL26, and CXCL11 only in fibroblasts. Supernatants of stimulated cultures increased migration of immature dendritic cells compared with controls, odontoblast-like cells being more potent attractants than fibroblasts. Analysis of these data suggests that odontoblasts and pulp fibroblasts differ in their innate immune responses to oral micro-organisms that invade the pulp tissue.