Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the tissues that surround and support the teeth. In the U. S., approximately 65 million people are affected by this condition. Its occurrence is also associated with many important systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease. Among the most important etiologies of periodontitis is Porphyromonas gingivalis, a keystone bacterial pathogen. Keystone pathogens can orchestrate inflammatory disease by remodeling a normally benign microbiota causing imbalance between normal and pathogenic microbiota (dysbiosis). The important characteristics of P. gingivalis causing dysbiosis are its virulence factors that cause effective subversion of host defenses to its advantage [1], allowing other pathogens to grow. However, the mechanisms involving these processes are poorly understood. However, various microbial strategies target host sialoglycoproteins for immune dysregulation. In addition, the enzymes that break down sialoglycoproteins/sialoglycans are the “sialoglycoproteases”, resulting in exposed terminal sialic acid. This process could lead to pathogen-toll like receptor (TLR) interactions mediated through sialic acid receptor–ligand mechanisms. By assessing the function of P. gingivalis sialoglycoproteases, could pave the way to designing carbohydrate analogues and sialic acid mimetics to serve as drug targets.

The bioactivities of collagen-hydrolysates, sulfated glucosamine and a special fatty acid enriched dog-food were tested in a dog patient study as potential therapeutic treatment options in early osteoarthritis. Biophysical, biochemical, cell biological and molecular modeling methods support that these well-defined substances may act as effective nutraceuticals. Importantly, the applied collagen-hydrolysates as well as sulfated glucosamine residues from marine organisms were strongly supported by both an animal model and molecular modeling of intermolecular interactions. Molecular modeling of predicted interaction dynamics were evaluated for the receptor proteins MMP-3 and ADAMTS-5. These proteins play a prominent role in the maintenance of cartilage health as well as innate and adapted immunity. Nutraceuticals data were generated in a veterinary clinical study focusing on mobility and agility. Specifically, key clinical parameters were obtained from blood probes of German shepherd dogs with early osteoarthritis symptoms fed with collagen-hydrolysates or sulfated glucosamines. Collagen-hydrolysate, a chondroprotective food supplement was examined by high resolution NMR experiments. Molecular modeling simulations were used to further characterize the interaction potency of collagen-fragments and glucosamines with protein receptor structures. Potential beneficial effects of collagen-hydrolysates, sulfated glycans (i.e. sulfated glucosamine from crabs and mussels) and lipids, especially, eicosapentaenoic acid (extracted from fish oil) on biochemical and physiological processes are discussed here in the context of human and veterinary medicine.