{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T17:09:42Z","timestamp":1788800982486,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788739200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health at \u00d6rebro University"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05kytsw45","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Research Committee of \u00d6rebro County Council"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00maqj547","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Porphyromonas gingivalis is a keystone periodontal pathogen strongly associated with periodontitis progression. Although testosterone levels have been associated with periodontal health, its direct effects on P. gingivalis virulence remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of testosterone exposure on the key virulence characteristics of P. gingivalis strain W50. We found that testosterone significantly increased the growth and biofilm biomass of P. gingivalis W50 after 48 h. Furthermore, testosterone enhanced the extracellular gingipain activity of both lysine and arginine gingipains from P. gingivalis. We also found that IL-1\u03b2 release from gingival epithelial cells was significantly lowered following infection with testosterone-primed P. gingivalis compared with unprimed W50. At the mRNA level, no differences in pro-IL-1\u03b2, IL-8, or CXCL10 gene expression were detected in gingival epithelial cells infected with testosterone-primed P. gingivalis compared with unprimed W50. Finally, testosterone priming significantly enhanced the ability of P. gingivalis to colonize and invade gingival epithelial cells. Overall, these findings indicate that testosterone exposure modulates several virulence-associated phenotypes of P. gingivalis W50 in vitro. The mechanisms underlying these effects and their relevance to periodontal disease in vivo remain to be determined.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens15090948","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T16:30:02Z","timestamp":1788798602000},"page":"948","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Testosterone Modulates Virulence-Associated Phenotypes of Porphyromonas gingivalis W50"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Yvette","family":"Amba Kindlund","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medical Sciences, \u00d6rebro University, 701 82 \u00d6rebro, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4081-2372","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rongrong","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medical Sciences, \u00d6rebro University, 701 82 \u00d6rebro, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kartheyaene","family":"Jayaprakash Demirel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, \u00d6rebro University, 701 82 \u00d6rebro, Sweden"},{"name":"Department of Odontological Research, Public Dental Service, Faculty of Medicine and Health, \u00d6rebro University, 701 82 \u00d6rebro, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1291-6492","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandra","family":"Neves Guimaraes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Odontological Research, Public Dental Service, Faculty of Medicine and Health, \u00d6rebro University, 701 82 \u00d6rebro, Sweden"},{"name":"Department of Periodontology and Implantology, Public Dental Service, Faculty of Medicine and Health, \u00d6rebro University, 701 82 \u00d6rebro, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Isak","family":"Demirel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medical Sciences, \u00d6rebro University, 701 82 \u00d6rebro, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"604","DOI":"10.1111\/jcpe.13769","article-title":"Prevalence of periodontitis in dentate people between 2011 and 2020: A systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies","volume":"50","author":"Trindade","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. 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