ABSTRACT
With the spread of oral implant therapy, serious medical complications related to implant surgery are becoming a social problem. Although the number of complications after implant surgery in the edentulous jaw is decreasing in Japan, maxillary-sinus-related complications (MSRCs) have reached the highest number since 2012. It is essential to identify and eliminate possible predisposing risk factors for MSRCs at an early stage to prevent MSRCs. In this review article, we highlight the causal factors of postoperative complications with or without sinus augmentation for the maxillary molar region to achieve optimal treatment outcomes and reduce complications. In particular, we focus on anatomical variations that can cause the impairment of maxillary sinus drainage. Furthermore, we emphasize that the paradigm for personalized medicine for patients with a maxillary edentulous jaw by ENT specialist and dentist cooperation is shifting from the traditional assessment of maxillary sinus pathologies alone to the new assessment of anatomic variations that can cause the impairment of maxillary sinus drainage in addition to maxillary sinus pathologies.
ABSTRACT
Bovine lactoferrin (bLF) is a naturally occurring glycoprotein with antibacterial and antiviral activities. We evaluated whether bLF can prevent viral infections in the human intestinal epithelial cell line Caco-2. To assess antiviral responses, we measured the levels of interferon (IFN) expression, IFN-stimulated gene expression, and infection with a pseudotyped virus bearing either severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein or vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-G protein after treatment of cells with both bLF and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, an analog of double-stranded RNA that mimics viral infection. Combination treatment of cells with both bLF and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid increased mRNA and protein expression of several IFN genes (IFNB, IFNL1, and IFNL2) and IFN-stimulated genes (ISG15, MX1, IFITM1, and IFITM3) in Caco-2 cells. However, treatment with bLF alone did not induce an antiviral response. Furthermore, combination treatment suppressed infection of the SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped virus more efficiently than did bLF treatment alone, even though combination treatment increased the expression of mRNA encoding ACE2. These results indicate that bLF increases the antiviral response associated with the double-stranded RNA-stimulated signaling pathway. Our results also suggest that bLF and double-stranded RNA analogs can be used to treat viral infections, including those caused by SARS-CoV-2.