Cbfa1 upregulated the expression of the mineral-related proteins except DSP in human dental papilla cells

Objectives: to explicit whether the expression of the mineral-related proteins is regulated by cbfa1 in human dental papilla cells. Materials and Methods: Human dental papilla cells were cultured in vitro and transfected with pcDNA3-cbfa1 recombinant plasmids. After selected with G418 sulfate, a cell clone named PC-3, which could stably express the cbfa1 mRNA and protein, was proved by PCR and western blot. Then the amount of ALP and OC and the expression of OPN, BSP, ON, DMP1, DSP and DSPP were detected by immunohistochemistry, western blot and PCR methods. Results: We established the human dental papilla cells model PC-3 which could stably express the cbfa1 mRNA and protein. Compared with normal cells, a lot of mineral-related proteins such as ALP, OC, OPN, BSP, ON, DMP1 were upregulated in PC-3 cells. Unfortunately, dentin specific protein DSP and its coded gene dspp were not detected in these cells. Conclusions: In human dental papilla cells, cbfa1 can induce the expression of most mineral-related genes and proteins. It may implicate that cbfa1 must play a key role during tooth development and mineralization.