{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]],"date-time":"2026-05-14T22:29:01Z","timestamp":1778797741246,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,22]],"date-time":"2025-01-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1737504000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Gram-positive organism <jats:italic>Filifactor alocis<\/jats:italic> is implicated in multiple oral diseases including periodontitis, and approximately 50% of known strains encode and produce a recently identified repeat-in-toxin (RTX) protein, FtxA, partly homologous to the <jats:italic>Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans<\/jats:italic> leukotoxin. By assessing a longitudinal Ghanaian study population of adolescents, we recently identified a possible correlation between <jats:italic>F. alocis<\/jats:italic> levels, <jats:italic>ftxA<\/jats:italic> gene carriage, and progression of clinical attachment loss (CAL). To extend knowledge on the possible significance of <jats:italic>F. alocis<\/jats:italic> and its FtxA in periodontal disease, we have in the present work analyzed saliva samples in an independent cohort of periodontitis (n=156), collected at two private periodontal specialist practices in Perth, Western Australia. The present results corroborate that high loads of <jats:italic>F. alocis<\/jats:italic> and the presence of its <jats:italic>ftxA<\/jats:italic> gene together are associated with parameters of periodontal tissue destruction and severity. Moreover, among the individuals carrying <jats:italic>A. actinomycetemcomitans<\/jats:italic>, a majority also exhibited an <jats:italic>ftxA<\/jats:italic>-positive <jats:italic>F. alocis<\/jats:italic>, supporting the notion of the synergistic behavior of these two species. This emphasizes that <jats:italic>F. alocis<\/jats:italic> and its <jats:italic>ftxA<\/jats:italic> are involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis and may have ecological roles, with diagnostic and prognostic implications for the disease.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2024.1501028","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,22]],"date-time":"2025-01-22T07:15:13Z","timestamp":1737530113000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Prevalence of the oral pathogen Filifactor alocis and its FtxA toxin related to clinical parameters and presence of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Zeinab","family":"Razooqi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nabil","family":"Khzam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mahina","family":"L\u2019Hostis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Georgios N.","family":"Belibasakis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anders","family":"Johansson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jan","family":"Oscarsson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"725","DOI":"10.1177\/0022034514538283","article-title":"Filifactor alocis: the newly discovered kid on the block with special talents","volume":"93","author":"Aruni","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. 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