{"doi":"10.7717/peerj.17953","title":"The role of NF-kappaB in the inflammatory processes related to dental caries, pulpitis, apical periodontitis, and periodontitis–a narrative review","abstract":"<jats:p>Tooth-related inflammatory disorders, including caries, pulpitis, apical periodontitis (AP), and periodontitis (PD), are primarily caused by resident oral microorganisms. Although these dental inflammatory conditions are typically not life-threatening, neglecting them can result in significant complications and greatly reduce an individual’s quality of life. Nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), a family formed by various combinations of Rel proteins, is extensively involved in inflammatory diseases and even cancer. This study reviews recent data on NF-κB signaling and its role in dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), dental pulp fibroblasts (DPFs), odontoblasts, human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs), and various experimental animal models. The findings indicate that NF-κB signaling is abnormally activated in caries, pulpitis, AP, and PD, leading to changes in related cellular differentiation. Under specific conditions, NF-κB signaling occasionally interacts with other signaling pathways, affecting inflammation, bone metabolism, and tissue regeneration processes. In summary, data collected over recent years confirm the central role of NF-κB in dental inflammatory diseases, potentially providing new insights for drug development targeting NF-κB signaling pathways in the treatment of these conditions. Keywords: NF-κB, dental caries, pulpitis, apical periodontitis, periodontitis.</jats:p>","journal":"PeerJ","year":2024,"id":675890,"datarank":0.7781772732508586,"base_score":3.367295829986474,"endowment":3.367295829986474,"self_citation_contribution":0.5050943744979712,"citation_network_contribution":0.2730828987528874,"self_endowment_contribution":0.5050943744979712,"citer_contribution":0.2730828987528874,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":28,"citer_count":28,"citers_with_citation_signal":12,"citers_with_endowment":12,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1766013,"name":"Guangping Lang","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1231972,"name":"Xi Xu","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1766016,"name":"Xinghua Liang","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1766017,"name":"Yalin Han","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":115763,"name":"Yingying Han","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1766010,"name":"Zhonglan Chen","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"The role of NF-kappaB in the inflammatory processes related to dental caries, pulpitis, apical periodontitis, and periodontitis–a narrative review","abstract":"<jats:p>Tooth-related inflammatory disorders, including caries, pulpitis, apical periodontitis (AP), and periodontitis (PD), are primarily caused by resident oral microorganisms. Although these dental inflammatory conditions are typically not life-threatening, neglecting them can result in significant complications and greatly reduce an individual’s quality of life. Nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), a family formed by various combinations of Rel proteins, is extensively involved in inflammatory diseases and even cancer. This study reviews recent data on NF-κB signaling and its role in dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), dental pulp fibroblasts (DPFs), odontoblasts, human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs), and various experimental animal models. The findings indicate that NF-κB signaling is abnormally activated in caries, pulpitis, AP, and PD, leading to changes in related cellular differentiation. Under specific conditions, NF-κB signaling occasionally interacts with other signaling pathways, affecting inflammation, bone metabolism, and tissue regeneration processes. In summary, data collected over recent years confirm the central role of NF-κB in dental inflammatory diseases, potentially providing new insights for drug development targeting NF-κB signaling pathways in the treatment of these conditions. Keywords: NF-κB, dental caries, pulpitis, apical periodontitis, periodontitis.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"39221277","pmcid":"PMC11366231","openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Scientific research project of colleges and universities","grant_id":"QIANJIAOJI [2022]240","title":null},{"funder_name":"Science and Technology Department Fund Project of Zunyi City","grant_id":"ZSKHHZ [2022]377","title":null},{"funder_name":"Science and technology fund project of Guizhou Provincial Health Commission","grant_id":"gzwkj2023-201","title":null},{"funder_name":"Zunyi Oral Disease Immune Prevention and Medical Biomaterials Research and Development Innovation Talent Team","grant_id":"Zunyi Science Talent [2022] No.1","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","grant_id":"82160181","title":null},{"funder_name":"Zunyi Medical University graduate research fund project","grant_id":"ZYK258","title":null},{"funder_name":"Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Foundation","grant_id":"[2022] General 606","title":null}],"total_grants":7,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://peerj.com/articles/17953.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://peerj.com/articles/17953.xml","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://peerj.com/articles/17953.html","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17953","host_type":"Unpaywall"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC11366231","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC11366231?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":["Dental Pulp","Animals","Humans","Periapical Periodontitis","Periodontitis","Pulpitis","Dental Caries","Inflammation","NF-kappa B","Signal Transduction"],"keywords":["Periodontitis","NF-κB","Pulpitis","Caries","Apical Periodontitis"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-17T01:49:50.309943Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}