ABSTRACT
As a part of dental plaque biofilm, Porphyromonas gingivalis is a major causative bacterium of chronic and aggressive periodontitis and play major role in development of periimplant mucositits and peri-implantitis also. Arginine and lysine-specific proteases- gingipains HRgpA, RgpB and Kgp produced by P. gingivalis are fatal virulence factors for damaging host tissues. Periodontitis and peri-implantitis sites are both inflammatory lesions initiated by a bacterial infection and exist in a nonsterile environment with common cellular components and molecular pathways. These observations suggest that host modulatory approaches like inhibition of gingipains by various methods; those are successful for periodontitis will likely be applicable to peri-implantitis. For the reason, it is important to understand the structural and functional characteristics of gingipains. Present review is an attempt to explain these characteristics, which may be helpful in development of newer treatment strategies.
KEYWORDS:HRgpA, RgpB, Kgp, periodontitis, periimplantitis