ReviewOral diseases2011
Beta-defensins: what are they really doing in the oral cavity?
Review in Oral diseases, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genetic Variants and Dental Caries Susceptibility: An Umbrella Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis.Genes · 2026Pooled it
- The Effect of Probiotic Lactobacillus Strains on Porphyromonas gingivalis, the Etiological Factor of Periodontal Diseases-A Systematic Review.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Pooled it
- The consumption of milk supplemented with probiotics decreases the occurrence of caries and the salivary concentration of hβD-3 in children.Clinical oral investigations · 2021Trial
- The Role of the Oral Microbiome in Modulating Therapeutic Outcomes in Lung Cancer: Key Commensals and Clinical Implications.Cancers · 2026Review
- Oral Innate Immunity and the Role of Oral Epithelial Cells.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Comparison of salivary statherin and beta-defensin-2 levels, oral health behaviors, and demographic factors in children with and without early childhood caries.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Dynamics of Human Palatal Wound Healing and the Associated Microbiome.Journal of dental research · 2025Article
- Systemic Factors Affecting Human Beta-Defensins in Oral Cavity.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Review
- Important Roles and Potential Uses of Natural and Synthetic Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) in Oral Diseases: Cavity, Periodontal Disease, and Thrush.Journal of functional biomaterials · 2022Review
- Article
- Oral Cavity andPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Review
- Molecular dynamics simulations and functional studies reveal that hBD-2 binds SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and blocks viral entry into ACE2 expressing cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2021Article
- Bio- and Nanotechnology as the Key for Clinical Application of Salivary Peptide Histatin: A Necessary Advance.Microorganisms · 2020Review
- Daily Consumption of an Anthocyanin-Rich Extract Made From New Zealand Blackcurrants for 5 Weeks Supports Exercise Recovery Through the Management of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation: A Randomized Placebo Controlled Pilot Study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2020Article
- Review
- Human Beta Defensins and Cancer: Contradictions and Common Ground.Frontiers in oncology · 2019Review
- Tainted air: The link between pollution and Alzheimer's disease.Biomedical journal · 2018Article
- Oral infection of mice with Fusobacterium nucleatum results in macrophage recruitment to the dental pulp and bone resorption.Biomedical journal · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Initially identified as broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides, the members of the β-defensin family have increasingly been observed to exhibit numerous other activities, both in vitro and in vivo, that do not always relate directly to host defense. Much research has been carried out in the oral cavity, where the presence of commensal bacteria further complicates the definition of their role. In addition to direct antimicrobial activity, β-defensins exhibit potent chemotactic activity for a variety of innate immune cells, as well as stimulating other cells to secrete cytokines. They can also inhibit the inflammatory response, however, by the specific binding of microbe-associated molecular patterns. These patterns are also able to induce the expression of β-defensins in gingival epithelial cells, although significant differences are observed between different species of bacteria. Together these results suggest a complex model of a host-defense related function in maintenance of bacterial homeostasis and response to pathogens. This model is complicated, however, by numerous other observations of β-defensin involvement in cell proliferation, wound healing and cancer. Together, the in vitro, in vivo and human studies suggest that these peptides are important in the biology of the oral cavity; exactly how is still subject to speculation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.