Photodynamic Therapies for Periodontal Disease

Periodontal disease is one of the major indications for companion animals presenting to veterinary hospitals. In addition to teeth scaling and/or teeth removal under anaesthetic, animals with periodontal disease are frequently treated with systemically administered antibiotics including classes that are critically important to human health such as third generation cephalosporins. The availability of effective locally administered therapies follows good antimicrobial stewardship principles by reducing overall use whilst also protecting gut microbiota from dysbiosis associated with systemic treatment.

Invion Pty Ltd is an Australia-based Life Sciences Company developing a new generation of photodynamic therapies for the effective topical treatment of multiple cancer types as well as a range of infectious diseases. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves application of photosensitising agents that enter the target cells and are then activated by the application of light at a specific wavelength to create cidal reactive oxygen species, localised at the site of light exposure. This PhD project will follow up on promising preliminary in vitro data showing that several of Invion’s PDT compounds have antimicrobial activity against oral pathogens. It will involve further in vitro analysis to select compounds for cytotoxicity testing against a range of orally derived cell lines followed by in vivo efficacy testing in a rodent model. Ways in which the novel therapy can be applied to an anaesthetised animal will also be explored and if time permits small scale clinical trials will be undertaken in dogs with grade 4 periodontal disease.